Opportunity Knocks: Exploring the Links Between Day Opportunities and Equal Opportunities

The term ‘day opportunities’ is used in the context of personalisation in England to refer to alternatives to day centres. This article employs the lens of legislation on equalities to comment on access to day opportunities by different groups of eligible older people. It reports and discusses findings from a scoping review of the literature conducted in 2012 and updated in 2013 which searched for research and ‘grey literature’ material. Findings from the scoping review are presented using the different elements of the Equalities Act 2010. We conclude that social workers need to be aware of definitions when describing what is being suggested as part of a support plan or reviewed in the context of desired outcomes. We draw attention to the need to think about levels of needs and access to any day opportunity. Social workers are well placed to identify whether these changes have a differential impact on certain groups. This exploration of the literature on user experiences and outcomes from day opportunities may be helpful to social work practice and scholarship.