Welfare states are developing forms of payment for care such that the boundary between `work' and `care' is breaking down. Various types of payment are being introduced, but one of the most interesting is the widespread development of direct payment schemes whereby disabled people are given cash instead of services, and expected to use these monies to purchase directly the services of personal assistants. This paper uses the evidence of a small qualitative study of personal assistants to investigate the question of control and power within the care relationship, and the issue of boundary setting between employer and employee. The paper also considers how far this new type of paid care work is different from other forms of paid care which impinge upon the body.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arber, S and Ginn J. (1995) `Gender Differences in the Relationship between Paid Employment and Informal Care', Work, Employment & Society, 9, 3, 445-471.
2.
Baldock, J. and Ungerson C. (1994) Becoming Consumers of Community Care, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
3.
Corti, L and Dex S. (1995) `Informal Carers and Employment', Employment Gazette.
4.
Daly, M. (1997) `Welfare States Under Pressure: Cash Benefits in European Welfare States Over the Last Ten Years', Journal of European Social Policy, 7, 2, 129-146.
5.
Eustis, N. N. and Fischer L. R. (1991), `Relationships Between Home Care Clients and their Workers: Implications for the Quality of Care', The Gerontologist, 31, 4, 447-456.
6.
Evers, A. , Pijl M. and Ungerson C. (1994) (eds.), Payments for Care: a Comparative Overview, Aldershot: Avebury.
7.
Forster, M. (1990) Lady's Maid, London: Penguin.
8.
Girard, J. (1994) Country House Life: Family and Servants, 1815-1914, Oxford: Blackwell Press.
9.
Hendey, N. and Pascall G. (1998) `Independent Living: gender, violence and the threat of violence', Disability & Society, 13, 3, 415-427.
10.
Himmelweit, S. (1995) `The Discovery of `Unpaid Work': The Social Consequences of the Expansion of Work', Feminist Economics, 1, 2, 1-19.
11.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feelings, Berkeley, California, London: University of California Press.
12.
Joshi, H. (1992) `The Cost of Caring', in C. Glendinning and J. Millar (eds), Women and Poverty in Britain: the 1990s, London and New York: Harvester/Wheatsheaf.
13.
Kestenbaum, A. (1996) Independent Living: A Review, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
14.
Kubisa, T. (1996) `Domiciliary Care: a Purchaser Perspective' in The Mixed Economy of Care Bulletin 5, London: LSE PSSRU.
15.
Lakey, J. (1994) Caring about Independence: Disabled People and the Independent Living Fund, London: Policy Studies Institute.
16.
Leat, D. (1996) The Development of Community Care by the Independent Sector, London: Policy Studies Institute.
17.
Morris, J. (1993) Independent Lives: Community Care and Disabled People, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
18.
Oliver, M. (1996) Understanding Disability: from Theory to Practice, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
19.
Phillips, J. (1995) Working Carers: International Perspectives on Working and Caring for Older People, Aldershot: Avebury.
20.
Phillips, J. (1996) Working and Caring: developments at the workplace for family carers of disabled and older people, Shankill: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
21.
Project 81 (undated) One Step On, Petersfield: HCIL Papers.
22.
Sipilä, J. (1993) `Home Care Allowances for the Frail Elderly in Finland - a contradictory innovation' in A. Evers and I. Svetlik (eds.) Balancing Pluralism - New Welfare Mixes in Care for the Elderly, Aldershot: Avebury.
23.
Twigg, J. (1999) `The Spatial Ordering of Care: Public and Private in Bathing Support at Home', Sociology of Health and Illness, 4, 21, 381-400.
24.
Ungerson, C. (1994) `Payment for Caring: Mapping a Territory' in N. Deakin and R. Page (eds.) The Costs of Welfare, Aldershot: Avebury.
25.
Ungerson, C. (1995) `Gender, Cash and Informal Care: European Perspectives and Dilemmas', Journal of Social Policy, 24, 1, 31-52.
26.
Ungerson, C. (1997a) `Social Politics and the Commodification of Care', Social Politics, Fall 1997, 362-381.
27.
Ungerson, C. (1997b) `Give them the Money: is Cash a Route to Empowerment?', Social Policy and Administration, 31, 1, 45-53.
28.
Ungerson, C. (1997c) `Caring and Citizenship: a Complex Relationship' in J. Bornatet al. (eds.) Community Care: a Reader, 2nd Edition, Basingstoke: Macmillan in conjunction with the Open University.
