Staff profile: Professor Ray Jones
Position: Professor of Social Work
School: Social Work
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8417 5143
Email: r.l.jones@sgul.kingston.ac.uk
Biography
Professor Ray Jones is a registered social worker with 40 years of practice and management experience in residential care and community social work within local authorities and a major national child care voluntary organisation. From 1992 to 2006 he was director of social services, and then director of adult and community services, in Wiltshire, leading a top three-star rated service with an annual spend of £126m and 3,200 employees.
He was the first chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, and has been deputy chair, and then chair, of the British Association of Social Workers. He is a visiting professor at the University of Bath, an honorary fellow at the University of Gloucestershire, an academician of the Academy for the Social Sciences, and a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
Ray has been an advisor to numerous government policy and research committees. He was a member of the Nuffield Foundation’s Children and Family Law Grants Committee, from 2006 to 2011 was a trustee of Quarriers, a Scottish-based major social care voluntary organisation, and is past chair of the Marlborough Brandt Group, which has international linking and development programmes within The Gambia in West Africa.
He is currently the independent chair of Bristol’s Safeguarding Children’s Board and the chair of Salford's Safeguarding Children Improvement Board.
He was also a European Community advisor to the (then new) Slovenian government on the development of welfare policies and has more recently been a consultant with the Russian-European Trust for Welfare Reform, working with senior policy makers and social services directors within Russia.
Ray is the author of five books and over 100 published papers, is a frequent media columnist and commentator, and has undertaken research on adolescents and social work, neighbourhood work, child protection decision-making, and direct payments for disabled people.
Interests
Social care and social work practice; (comparative) social policy; history of social services; engagement with, and outcomes for, service users and carers; interprofessional working; management and leadership; organisational development.
Publications
Article
Jones, Ray (2011) Book review of: 'Social care management, strategy and business planning' by Hafford-Letchfield, T. Health and Social Care in the Community, 19(3), p. 336. ISSN (print) 0966-0410
Jones, Ray, Mackenzie, Ann, Greenwood, Nan, Atkins, Christine and Habibi, Ruth (2011) General practitioners, primary care and support for carers in England: can training make a difference? Health & Social Care In The Community, ISSN (print) 0966-0410
Jones, Ray (2010) A 'liberated' NHS: intentions, impact and implications for local government. Journal of Integrated Care, 18(6), pp. 35-40. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Jones, Ray (2010) Anticipating and capitalising on change: the General Election and health and social care partnerships. Journal of Integrated Care, 18(1), pp. 20-26. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Jones, Ray (2010) Book Review of: leadership in social care by Zoe van Zwanenberg (ed.). The British Journal of Social Work, 40(6), pp. 2014-2015. ISSN (print) 0045-3102
Greenwood, Nan, Mackenzie, Ann, Habibi, Ruth, Atkins, Christine and Jones, Ray (2010) General practitioners and carers: a questionnaire survey of attitudes, awareness of issues, barriers and enablers to provision of services. BMC Family Practice, 11(100), ISSN (online) 1471-2296
Jones, Ray (2010) Managing at a distance in social work and social care. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 14(1), pp. 59-75. ISSN (print) 0953-5225
Jones, Ray (2009) Children's acts 1948-2008: the drivers for legislative change in England over 60 years. Journal of Children's Services, 4(4), pp. 39-52. ISSN (print) 1746-6660
Jones, Ray (2008) Self-directed support: watching out for the pitfalls. Journal of Integrated Care, 16(1), pp. 44-47. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Jones, Ray (2007) A journey through the years: ageing and social care. Ageing horizons, 6, pp. 42-51. ISSN (print) 1746-1073
Jones, Ray (2005) A sea change in the teacup! Journal of integrated care, 13(4), pp. 2-5. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Jones, Ray (2004) Bringing health and social care together for older people: Wiltshire's journey from independence to interdependence to integration. Journal of Integrated Care, 12(1), pp. 27-32. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Evans, Claire and Jones, Ray (2004) Engagement and empowerment, research and relevance: comments on user controlled research. Research Policy and Planning, 22(2), pp. 5-13. ISSN (print) 0264-519X
Jones, Ray and Welch, Bob (2000) A two way process. Community Care, pp. 26-27.
Jones, Ray (1996) Decision making in child protection. The British Journal of Social Work, 26(4), pp. 509-522. ISSN (print) 0045-3102
Jones, Ray (1995) Spanning the divide: joint commissioning health and social services. Community Care Management and Planning, 3(4), pp. 112-122. ISSN (print) 1476-9018
Jones, Ray (1983) Living and working on the patch. Community Development Journal, 18(1), pp. 10-19. ISSN (print) 0010-3802
Jones, Ray (1981) Adolescents in care and their social workers: a research note. The British Journal of Social Work, 11(1), pp. 217-222. ISSN (print) 0045-3102
Jones, Ray (1981) Intermediate treatment: research and social policy. Journal of Adolescence, 4(4), pp. 339-352. ISSN (print) 0140-1971
Jones, Ray (1980) The preventative and the penal: a comment on two models of intermediate treatment. Journal of Adolescence, 3(4), pp. 307-320. ISSN (print) 0140-1971
Jones, Ray (1978) Intermediate treatment and adolescents' perceptions of social workers. The British Journal of Social Work, 8(4), pp. 425-438. ISSN (print) 0045-3102
Book
Jones, Ray (1987) Like distant relatives: adolescents' perceptions of social work and social workers. Hants, U.K. : Gower. 304p. ISBN 9780566053238
Jones, Ray and Pritchard , Colin, eds. (1980) Social Work with Adolescents. London, U.K. : Routledge and Kegan Paul. 249p. (Library of Social Work) ISBN 0710006330
Jones, Ray (1979) Fun and Therapy: Consumer and Social Worker Perceptions of Intermediate Treatment (IT papers). National Youth Bureau. 44p. ISBN 9780861550142
Jones, Ray and Kerslake, Andrew (1979) Intermediate Treatment and Social Work. Heinemann. 122p. ISBN 9780435824839
Book Section
Evans, Clare and Jones, Ray (2012) Changing patterns of service user involvement, 1990-2010. In: Barnes, Marian and Cotterell, Phil, (eds.) Critical Perspectives on User Involvement. Bristol, U.K. : The Policy Press. pp. 89-99. ISBN 9781847427502
Jones, Raymond (2008) Social work and management. In: Barnard, Adam , Horner, Nigel and Wild, Jim, (eds.) The value base of social work and social care: an active learning handbook. Hardcover. Maidenhead, UK : Open University Press. pp. 145-164. ISBN 9780335222155
Evans, Clare and Jones, Ray (2005) Really making it happen in Wiltshire: the experience of service users evaluating social care. In: Lowes, Lesley and Hulatt, Ian, (eds.) Involving service users in health and social care research. Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 132-139. ISBN 0415346479
Jones, Ray (1996) Swimming together: the tidal change for statutory agencies and the voluntary sector. In: Hanvey, Chris and Philpott, Terry, (eds.) Sweet charity: the role and workings of voluntary organisations. London, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 39-57. ISBN 0415138000
Jones, Ray (1995) Disability, discrmination and local authority social services 1: the social services context. In: Zarb, Gerry, (ed.) Removing disabling barriers. London, U.K. : Policy Studies Institute. pp. 108-115. ISBN 9780853746676
Jones, Ray (1983) Justice, social work and statutory supervision. In: Morris, Allison and Filler, Henri, (eds.) Providing criminal justice for children. London, U.K. : Edward Arnold. pp. 89-108. ISBN 9780713163971
Monograph
Jones, Raymond, Mackenzie, Ann, Greenwood, Nan, Atkins, Christine and Habibi, Ruth (2010) Evaluation of the pilot GP training programme on carers. (Project Report) London : Kingston University and St. George's, University of London. 66 p. (Unpublished)
Grants
- £10,000 Academic Health and Social Care Network (2010-): Definition and Deployment of Core Professional Competencies in Multi-Professional Health and Social Care Teams.
- £48,900 Department of Health (2010): Evaluation of Pilot GP/Carers National Training Programme.
- £14,600 Nuffield Foundation (2009): A History of the Personal Social Services.
- Co-founded and chaired the Centre for Evidenced-Based Social Services at the University of Exeter, which from 1997 to 2005 achieved a grant income in excess of £1m from, amongst others, the Department of Health and 16 south west England councils with social services responsibilities.
- Founded and chaired the Bath University and Wiltshire Social Services Research Partnership, which from 1997 to 2006 was awarded research grants of £650,000, including from the NHS South West Regional research and development budget and from the Nuffield Foundation, and undertook 12 research studies, including two major studies on child protection and family group conferences and on the outcomes for older people of integrating health and social care community services.
Consultancy
Current and recent consultancies include:
- Chair, Salford Safeguarding Children Improvement Board (2010-)
- Chair, Department of Health Expert Review Panel, Social Work Workforce Research Unit, King’s College, University of London (2010)
- Chair, Bristol Safeguarding Children Board (2009-)
- Member of Leonard Cheshire’s National Operations Committee (2006-)
- ‘Expert witness’ and advisor to the police investigating an unlawful killing of a man with severe and multiple impairments (2008)
- Working with the Russian-European Trust for Welfare Reform with senior policy makers and social services directors across Russia on developing services for older people in rural areas (2006-2008)
- Undertaking a publicly-reported independent management review for Cornwall County Council following the murder of a man with a learning disability (2007).
