The 2014 Care Act ('the Act') has been called the most significant reform of adult social care in England since 1948, introducing a core legal entitlement of adults to care and support based on the principle of promoting the well-being of the person and their carers through a person-centred, holistic approach. Key national social work interests in England welcomed the Act for its close congruence with particular aims and values of social work and for the promise the Act holds for liberation of social work practice, mired for years in a narrow 'care management' model. Qualitative content analysis is used to critically examine prospects for this promised liberation. Definitive government guidance on how the Act should be implemented is compared with a guide promoting a vision of the liberated social work role required to deliver the aims of the Act and with related literature. Analysis identifies areas of real convergence between them, but also significant disparities at odds with a liberated model of adult social work. Concluding reflections on these findings and on the contemporary political and economic environments identify further issues that threaten to compromise not only the predicted social work renaissance, but the progressive elements of the Act itself.
