| AdminHistory | Organisations involved: Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd., Paul S. Cadbury Trust.
Previous titles and/or title variations: general social work; social service.
Related grant categories: civil rights and social justice, neighbourhood development.
Dates of use: 1961/1962 to 1988/1989.
Cadbury Trusts grant subject filing reference number(s): 6.
Support for general social service work dates to the establishment of both trusts and the Fund. Though the term 'social service' does not appear until 1961/1962 in the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust annual accounts, the trusts had consistently supported organisations working in this area. Early subscriptions of the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust that would later be classed as 'social service' include the Boys Brigade, Birmingham Battalion, the Birmingham Council for Old People, the Birmingham Federation of Boys Clubs, the Birmingham Marriage Guidance Council and the National Council for One Parent Families.
The social service category itself represented a combination related themes including youth work, work with old people, family life and clubs and hostels. Defining social service grants proved difficult for Trustees and the category was used, however unintentionally, as a catch-all heading during the early to mid-1970s. The 1977 Cadbury Trusts' annual report states that social service applications be considered in the context of a deliberate programme 'focusing on the increase of skills, knowledge, faith and civil self-confidence among residents of the West Midlands conurbation'. The Trust was hesitant to step in as a funder of services, feeling this was the responsibility of local authorities or a dedicated service charity. However, the Trust was eager to support social service work of an innovative or experimental nature in the hope of informing best practice across the sector.
The 1977 annual report goes on to acknowledge a degree of overlap between the social service category and 'community planning', 'health' and 'education'. Recipients of grants or subscriptions during this period include the Anti-Slavery Society, the Birmingham Council for Old People, Middlemore Homes, the Belfast Council of Social Welfare, Sandwell Adventure Playground Association, the Wolverhampton Overnight Shelter Group and Returned Volunteer Action.
The wide variety of organisations supported under the social service heading made it one of the largest categories representing 25.2% and 36.3% of Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust and Paul S. Cadbury Trust expenditure respectively in 1974/1975. In 1977 Trustees reviewed the category and, through narrowing the definition of the classification, general pruning of subscriptions and reassigning grants to other categories, social service expenditure was reduced to between 3% and 5% for 1979/1980. Under the new terms of reference, social service grants were made to agencies concerned with advice and relief to individuals in need. Most of the grants reassigned from social service were transferred to housing, land and community planning or penal affairs.
Social service grant files were assigned the filing reference number six as part of Anthony Wilson's classification scheme for grant subjects. A representative social service grant file label for the 1970s-1980s might read 'AW/6/5' to denote a grant administered by Anthony Wilson/social service grant/Birmingham Friendship Housing Association.
By its last year as an independent category, 1984/1985, total social service expenditure amounted to £30,619 as compared to £170,962 for race relations and £166,533 for peace and international relations.
In 1985/1986 Trustees decided to amalgamate all outstanding education, health and social service grants into a single category. Spending in this area was restricted to existing grant commitments with any new applications assigned to other categories as appropriate. By 1988/1989 all outstanding health, education and social service grants had either been paid out or transferred to other areas allowing the amalgamated category to be eliminated. |