Introduction

It is clearly understood that social work with older people is one of the least well-developed areas of the profession (Milne et al 2014). While there have been times when it has been positively promoted (for example around the implementation of community care in 1993), more common has been an impression of neglect. This has two consequences. First, and arguably most important, the quality of practice may well have been affected. Second, and this is at least partly as a result of the first point, it has long been an area of social work that is less favoured by students in training (Quinn 2000). Certainly, from my own experiences as a social work educator, there were few students who wished to get into this area of practice.

Of course, this actuality tends to undercut the essential premise of the chapter: in reality, there has never been a ‘golden age’ for social work with older people, from which the current period represents a fundamental retreat. However, even in relatively recent times, there was an expansion in social work with older people, combined with a growth in the scope of academic material which focused upon it (see, for example, Lymbery 2005 and 2014a; Ray et al 2015; Richards et al 2014). Despite this, there have been many practical changes which have led inexorably to a diminution of its role, a number of which are detailed in subsequent sections. It is therefore hard to see how social work with older people can be recovered. Nevertheless, there are in fact a number of steps that would help with this, and the final section highlights what these are.

Before then the chapter starts by outlining the various ‘requirements’ for social work involvement with older people. (By ‘requirements’, I mean the range of factors that present compelling reasons for the allocation of social workers to this group. It is of course fascinating that the existence of these ‘requirements’ has not heralded a massive increase in the presence of social workers with older people. I call them ‘requirements’ simply because they should bring about such a growth!) The chapter also briefly considers the history of social work with older people, commenting on its relatively slow development and low status.