Parliament has a maximum duration of five years. At any time up to the end of this period, a general election can be held for new Members of Parliament to be elected to the House of Commons.

There are devolved parliaments, created by legislation in the UK Parliament, in the constituent countries of the UK, apart from England: The Scottish Office, The National Assembly for Wales and The Northern Ireland Assembly.

A law starts its life in the form of a parliamentary Bill. It must go through the necessary stages in both Houses of Parliament and a complicated system of Committees; first the House of Commons and then The House of Lords. After this the Queen must signify her approval - this is a formality. The Bill then becomes an Act and enters into force on the day the Bill receives the Royal Assent, unless the Act provides for other dates.

New laws come about either because old laws become outdated and there is pressure on the Government to update it, or because a Government wants to introduce particular policies.

Sometimes a Bill is not produced for Parliament straightaway - there may be consultation or discussion with interested parties such as professional bodies, voluntary organisations and pressure groups. In this case a rough proposal for legislative changes may be put together for consultation in what is called a Green Paper. Following this a White Paper will be drawn up, setting out the proposals which will eventually become the Bill. There is no requirement for there to be a White or Green Paper before a Bill is introduced into Parliament but the Labour Government of 1997 promised that there would be more of these consultations before legislation was introduced, so there are more than there used to be.

Some Bills apply to the whole of the United Kingdom. Others may apply only to one or more constituent parts of Britain - for example, only to England and Wales. Following the establishment of the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish parliaments, powers to make legislation in certain areas have been 'devolved'. However, power in many other areas, such as defence and foreign affairs (known as 'reserved' matters), still resides with the House of Commons. While the Scottish Parliament can pass primary legislation in such areas as agriculture and health, the Welsh Assembly's powers only allow it to pass secondary legislation in the form of statutory instruments.

This sort of legislation (Acts of Parliament, or Statutes) is the commonest source of new law and this is what is relevant to social workers. Another form of law is called 'Case Law' which is essentially 'judge-made law' - in other words it is when a senior judge has made a decision about a case and other judges follow (called a precedent). Most law was made this way up until the 17th century but more recently legislation is nearly all by Act of Parliament - now called Primary Legislation. The role of the judges is still important, though, as they play a part in law-making by interpreting the Acts, and their rulings can become law, for instance in the case of Regulations. Both Acts and Regulations are therefore law. Other documents, sometimes called Guidance, Codes, Circulars, etc. are not law, but they do tell us what the government, or judges, considers to be good practice.

The idea of interpretation is useful for us as social workers because we will be required to interpret aspects of the Acts too - for instance when the Children Act says we should put the needs of the child first, what does this mean in terms of what we actually do? Acts are sometimes huge documents containing many different sections on all aspects of the subject. Not all sections will be relevant to us so, having identified a relevant Act, we will then need to find the section, or sections, that will tell us what powers we have (that is what we could do if, in our professional judgement, it was necessary) or what responsibilities we have (that is what the Act says we must do, whether we like it or not!). These two aspects of social work law - powers and responsibilities - also need to be balanced by rights - the third important aspect of the law for us. This can be the rights of the client or the rights of the worker (and sometimes these are in conflict).

In everyday practice we may not be referring to the Acts directly - agencies that employ social workers will usually have produced policy and procedure documents that are designed to help us act in accordance with the law. One criticism of modern social work is that these procedures have turned us into automatons, unable to think for ourselves, so if we are to avoid this fate we need to be familiar ourselves with the sections of the Acts that are relevant for our work.

You can see all the Acts I could find that could be relevant to social workers since 1988 (plus a few earlier ones that are still relevant) and links to a whole lot more law stuff on the SocialWorkStuff law page.

This guide is only a brief summary - if you want to know more about the workings of the law you can find better and fuller information on the No.10 'Guide to Legislation' page (good plain English),UK Law Online site, The SOSIG Law Gateway and The House of Commons website.

Practising Social Work Law
Suzy Braye, Michael Preston-Shoot
Our Price: £16.50
Availability: Usually dispatched within 2-3 days
Category(ies): Business, Finance & Law , Society, Politics & Philosophy
Paperback - 312 pages 2nd Ed (5 September, 1997)
Palgrave, formerly Macmillan Press; ISBN: 0333693833
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 50,149

Reviews:
Synopsis
This book explores the relationship between the law and social work: the social context of welfare law, the powers and duties social workers have, the practice dilemmas that confront them in applying the law and the conflicting imperatives that underpin it. It helps practitioners use legal knowledge by applying a decision-making framework to practice situations and by clarifying the values and skills for effective practice. This substantially revised and extended second edition updates developments in social work law and provides an even more comprehensive resource for students and practitioners alike.

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Community Care Practice and the Law
Michael Mandelstam MSc DipLib
Our Price: £27.50
Availability: This title is usually dispatched within 2-3 days.
Paperback - 656 pages (October 1998)
Jessica Kingsley Publishers; ISBN: 1853026476
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 53,813

Reviews
Synopsis
Revised and updated, this text seeks to bridge the gap between the law and practice of community care by juxtaposing systematically the legislation, legal judgements, ombudsman findings, statements from Parliament, and reports about practice from the Department of Health and other organizations. Other features of the book include: a stand-alone overview of community care law; a checklist of questions to ask about the lawfulness of policies and decisions; and summaries of court cases and ombudsman investigations.

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