The 1989 Children Act has consolidated and in some cases considerably extended the duties and responsibilities of social services departments. A major departure from earlier approaches is a central and explicit focus on the need for family support work, which is now to be undertaken within a broader framework than in the 1963 and 1980 legislation. In addition to the emphasis on providing services for children in their own families, there are new requirements for local authorities to work in partnership with voluntary agencies and other key statutory organisations, particularly health authorities and trusts.The 1989 Act needs to be reviewed in the context of parallel legislation, especially the NHS and Community Care Act (1990) which puts new emphasis on the process of planning, through the mandatory requirement for community care plans. Children's services plans are comparable although without mandatory requirement.A picture is slowly emerging of the extent to which social services departments, and health authorities and trusts are collaborating to plan and provide services. This paper outlines the new legislative framework; reviews the evidence available from the national study of the implementation of Section 17 of the Children Act (the 'children in need' clauses) on social services and health planning activities; reviews the SSI (1994) survey on children's service plans, providing a case example of policy and practice in one local authority; and assesses the progress made so far.

Executive summary the nature of the problem the routes into arrears the management of arrears outcome of arrears post possession discussion and conclusions.

A substantial proportion of people “in debt” are in employment. Increasingly, employers can be required by the courts to recover debts for creditors from employees via the attachment of earnings process. However, there are claims that the process has a range of negative consequences for both employers and employees, including costs, lowered motivation, and changes in the recruitment and retention of labour. Presents data from a recent study of the attachment of earnings process which assess the validity of a number of these claims. Draws attention to the differential perceptions of the significance of attachment on the part of employers and employees and the consequences of this for managing attachment within employing organizations.