ESRC Seminar: Home space in social policy and governance

This is to invite you to join us at next of our 'Home Space' seminars at the Open University, on Thursday 21 March, 10.30 – 16.00.

In this seminar we explore home as a welfare setting, as new policies of personalisation and co-production involve individuals and families taking more responsibility for their own care. These policies raise questions about the scale and settings for care, given growing social and economic inequalities and their impact on the care resources available in actual homes. While many feel that personalisation and co-production have the potential to enhance personal well-being, others also argue that home, as the site of care may not only be under resourced, but also remains a site of government intervention and surveillance. This is particularly so for the most ‘troubled’ or ‘at risk’ households who may be targeted as more universal models of welfare provision are undermined.  Home as a welfare setting opens up questions of material inequality and governance: who cares, what resources are available, who is accountable, who has power, who is in control?

Speakers and panellists will include: Dr Sophie Bowlby (University of Reading); Sarah Carr (Social Care Institute for Excellence); Jane Franklin (Open University); Dr Catherine Needham (Birmingham University); Professor Janet Newman (Open University); Dr Jessica Pykett (Birmingham University); Julia Slay (new economics foundation); Rachel Scicluna (Open University)

The seminar is free to attend sign up here http://www.homespaceseminars.org/seminar-two.html