1 A systems approach to direct payments: a response to Friend or foe? Towards a critical assessment of direct payments

Spandler (2004) identifies the need to move from reactionary to progressive arguments about direct payments in the UK to enable progress towards a critical assessment of direct payments in the context of progressive social policy. This reply develops Spandler’s article to advocate a strategic view of direct payments within the social care system, by looking at the context within which direct payments operate and system issues that affect the whole social care sector. The discussion is based on the hypothesis that critical assessment of direct payments needs to look at their impact on the whole social care sector and not just a minority of those people who elect to receive them