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Schizophrenia
A major mental disorder that affects about one in every hundred people. Although the symptoms vary from person to person, most people find it adversely affects their day to day lives at some stage. People with schizophrenia find it difficult to work as well as they did before because their thoughts are jumbled and unclear, so they have trouble concentrating. They may become so preoccupied with their thoughts and feelings that they fail to take care of themselves, not even eating or sleeping. Common symptoms include hearing voices (often referred to as auditory hallucinations) and unusual beliefs or delusions. The condition is predominantly treated with antipsychotic medication but psychological therapies have also proved effective in managing the symptoms.
Big issue: mental health
Related articles
Useful link: NHS Direct - schizophrenia

Scottish charity law
Scotland is not covered by the same charity law as England and Wales and the charity commission's writ does not run north of the border. But Scottish charity law is going through a shake-up similar to that proposed for England and Wales. The Scottish Executive has published the draft charities and trustee investment (Scotland) bill, which will put public benefit at the centre of a new definition of charity. The recently established Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator will have responsibility for granting charitable status.
See also: Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator
Big issue: charity reform
Useful link: Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)
Membership organisation for Scotland based charities, voluntary and campaign groups. Provides charity management services and advice, as well as representation to the Scottish executive and other interested bodies.
Big issue: charity management
Useful link: SCVO membership and service

Scrutiny committee
Group of councillors that reviews and investigates local authority services and other issues, monitors the work of a mayor or cabinet and holds members of the executive to account for their decisions. Introduced by the Local Government Act 2000.
Related articles
Useful link: Local Government Act 2000 - scrutiny panels

Secondary care
Specialist care, typically provided in a hospital setting or following referral from a primary or community health professional.
See also: primary care
Related articles
Big issue: NHS quality and performance
Useful link: Department of Health

Section 17
Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area.
See also: Children Act 1989
Big issue: children's services
Useful link: Children Act 1989

Section 28
Piece of local government legislation that prohibits the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools. Introduced in 1988, section 28 has never actually been enforced, but it remains a controversial issue in Westminster where traditionalist Tories are fighting to retain the legislation against Labour attempts at repeal.
Related articles
Useful link: Local Government Act 1988, section 28

Section 47
Under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities must make inquiries about children suspected of being at risk, so they can decide whether they need to take further action to protect and promote the child's welfare.
See also: Children Act 1989
Big issue: children's services
Useful link: Children Act 1989

Section 114 notice
Issued by council finance officials when they believe that their organisation's bank balance will go into deficit by the end of the financial year. Freezes spending until councillors meet to decide on corrective action.
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - council finance

Section 151 officer
Legal requirement that councils must appoint a named accountant to give them financial advice. The accountant in question is usually a local authority chief finance officer, director of finance or treasurer.
Related articles
Big issue: public finances
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - section 151

Sectioned
The term sectioned refers to the powers in the Mental Health Act 1983 that allow the detention of people who are suffering from mental disorders. Initially, an approved social worker or close relative can apply to have a person detained for assessment based on the recommendations of two doctors - one of which must be a qualified psychiatrist. The grounds for the application are set out under different sections of the act. Under section two, the doctors must confirm that the person is suffering from a mental disorder to a degree that warrants medical care and attention. They must be satisfied that the patient should be detained for their own health or safety, or to protect others. Section two allows detention for up to 28 days. But section three allows patients to be held for six months at first, then for a year at a time. Under this section, the mental disorder that the patient is suffering from must be specified, as well as any treatment proposed. Section four covers emergency cases and enables one doctor to order a person to 'rest' in hospital for 72 hours. Patients can be compulsorily treated - including with medication - under sections two, three and four. Patients are free to leave hospital when it is deemed they have made a recovery, or if the section order comes to an end.
See also: mental health review tribunal
Big issue: mental health
Related articles
Useful link: Nigel Turner's HyperGUIDE to the Mental Health Act

Secure tenancy
The standard form of tenancy given to almost all council tenants. It gives tenants more protection against eviction than the assured tenancy used by housing associations.
See also: assured tenancy
Related articles
Useful link: Tenant Participation Advisory Service - secure and assured tenancies (pdf)

Self-assessment
A means by which people set out their own estimation of their needs for support, usually on a standardised form.

Self-harm
Self-harm is not the same as attempted suicide. Only about a quarter of people seen in casualty with deliberately self-inflicted injuries have tried to kill themselves. It is a common misconception that the rest are simply 'attention seekers'. However, people who self-harm often believe this is the only way to express their distress as they are too traumatised to talk about it. About 10% of admissions to medical wards in the UK are as a result of self-harm. It is the commonest single cause of acute medical admission to hospital for women, and second only to heart disease in men. Methods of self-harm vary, but the majority of cases admitted to hospital are for drug overdoses - only 5-15% are caused by cutting.
See also: suicide
Big issue: mental health
Related articles
Useful link: the National Self-harm Network

Self-help group
A group of people with similar problems who get together for mutual support and to campaign for improved services.
Useful link: Patient UK - self-help and support groups

Sensory impairment
A loss or absence of ability to hear or see, but not necessarily a complete loss.
Useful link: Sense - sensory impairment

Service and financial framework (Saff)
Health authorities must submit service and financial frameworks to the NHS executive, committing them to meeting ministerial targets within available resources. These are underpinned by a series of agreements between commissioning bodies - including health authorities, primary care groups and primary care trusts - and hospital trusts, which set out agreed activity levels and funding.
Big issue: public finances
Related articles
Useful link: Department of Health guidance on Saffs

Service charge
An extra charge for tenants in addition to their rent made by landlords for communal facilities and services. Service charges are particularly common in the supported housing sector.
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - thinking of buying your council flat?

Service level agreements
Agreement between organisations and/or agencies setting out how services must be provided, what their standards will be and how monitoring will take place.
Big issue: social care reform and performance
Related articles

Service user
An individual who uses, requests, applies for, or benefits from health or local authority services. They may also be referred to as a client, patient or consumer.
Useful link: social care institute for excellence

Shared ownership
A housing association scheme that is a cross between owning your own home and renting it. The scheme is aimed at helping people to buy a home who could not otherwise afford to do so. Typically occupiers pay a subsidised rent to the housing association for half of the home, and a mortgage on the other half that they own.
Big issue: key worker housing
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - home ownership incentive schemes

Sheltered housing
Accommodation especially designed for older people supported by a range of communal services, such as 24-hour emergency assistance and a warden.
See also: supported housing
Related articles
Useful link: Erosh, the national consortium of sheltered housing

Shopping incentives
The concept behind a long-term plan to reform housing benefit. In Britain, unlike other European countries, housing benefit covers up to 100% of tenants' rents. Ministers want to scrap this system by forcing all tenants of working age to pay something towards the cost of their rent as way to encourage tenants to shop around for cheaper housing.
Related articles

Short life housing
Homes let on a temporary basis to relieve the pressure in areas where long-term housing is in short supply. The homes involved are typically scheduled for demolition or extensive repair.
Related articles
Useful link: London Short Life Forum

Silo
Term used to describe a council department that does not work effectively with other parts of the organisation and outside service providers. Thought to reduce organisational effectiveness and is the enemy of "joined-up" government.
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - silo

Single regeneration budget (SRB)
Now discontinued as a national scheme, the SRB was created in 1994 to narrow the gap between deprived and wealthy areas by funding local regeneration initiatives. Local partnerships of community, voluntary and business groups received money for schemes that aimed to improve employment prospects, address social exclusion and crime, and support economic growth.
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - SRB

Small business service
Government agency charged with promoting the interests of small businesses and providing them with a world-class support service. Its mission is to help make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.
Related articles
Useful link: small business service

Social care institute for excellence (Scie)
Scie - pronounced sky - is charged with reviewing research and practice in social care. It will produce best practice guidelines for staff and services, setting out which methods do not work as well as effective ones.
Big issue: social care reform and performance
Related articles
Useful link: Scie

Social economy
Term refers to the activity in financial as well as human terms, of the voluntary, charity, campaign and social sector in the UK. The value placed on this is sometimes referred to as social capital.
See also: social enterprise
Related articles

Social enterprise
Defined in the 2002 charity law reform blueprint produced by the prime minister's strategy unit as 'organisations which, like mainstream businesses, trade in order to build long-term sustainability, but which operate for a social purpose and use their profits for this end.'
See also: cooperative
Related articles
Useful link: Social Enterprise London - social enterprise explained

Social entrepreneurs
Individuals who are prime movers in improving or promoting social enterprises, which are democratically organised, ethical businesses with clear aims beneficial to society. There is also a school for social entrepreneurs set up by the late Lord Young.
See also: social enterprise
Related articles
Useful link: Social Enterprise London - social enterprise explained

Social exclusion
This term is used to describe people or areas that suffer from a combination of factors that include unemployment, high crime, low incomes and poor housing. The government's approach to regeneration is based on tackling the problems posed by social exclusion as a whole, rather than simply focusing on its individual elements.
Big issue: social exclusion
Related articles
Useful link: Cabinet Office - social exclusion unit

Social exclusion unit (SEU)
Set up by the prime minister in December 1997 to help reduce social exclusion by producing "joined up solutions to joined up problems". The SEU works with government departments to research, implement and promote policies that tackle social exclusion and poverty.
See also: social exclusion
Related articles
Useful link: Cabinet Office - the social exclusion unit, what's it all about?

Social housing grant
Public money allocated by the housing corporation to help housing associations build new homes. The grant is applied for each year for individual housing schemes and is topped up with private money borrowed by housing associations.
See also: approved development programme
Related articles
Useful link: housing corporation

Socially responsible investment (SRI)
Investment of private and charity funds in a progressive or ethical way. Can include not investing in certain companies or industries (eg arms) or attempting to influence the conduct of companies by investing.
See also: stakeholder pension
Big issue: charity finance
Useful link: UK Social Investment Forum

Social regeneration
Process of tackling the social problems that lead to deprivation, such as crime and drugs. The process is different from physical regeneration, which tackles run-down buildings and communal areas, and economic regeneration, which is aimed at creating jobs and wealth.
Big issue: crime and punishment
Big issue: drugs and alcohol
Related articles
Useful link: Regeneration-uk - social and community regeneration links

Social services departments
These are the local authority departments in England and Wales responsible for the provision of personal social services. Established under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, they combined the former children's, health and welfare departments. The services they provide include social work, home care and community care.
Big issue: social care staff
Useful link: Association of Directors of Social Services

Social services inspectorate (SSI)
Part of the social care group in the Department of Health, the SSI advises ministers and government departments on all matters relating to personal social services. It also assists local authorities, voluntary organisations and private agencies in the planning and delivery of effective and efficient social care services; runs a national programme of inspection, evaluating the quality of services provided, and monitors the implementation of government policy on social services.
Big issue: social care reform and performance
Related articles
Useful link: Department of Health - social services inspectorate

Social services inspectorate for Wales (SSIW)
The sister body of the English social services inspectorate.
See also: social services inspectorate
Big issue: social care reform and performance
Useful link: social services inspectorate for Wales

Social work
The provision of personal help to resolve a range of social and economic difficulties. The term was first adopted by social theorists in the early 1900s and began to be used more widely in the 1970s following the establishment of social services departments and the British Association of Social Workers.
Useful link: British Association of Social Workers

Society of Chief Personnel Officers (Socpo)
Body that represents top personnel officers in local government, police and fire authorities.
Related articles
Useful link: Socpo

Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace)
Represents council chief executives and other senior local government officers. Produces research and helps with professional development.
Related articles
Useful link: Solace

Sophid
See survey of prevalent HIV infected persons

Special health authorities
Health authorities with unique national supra-regional functions which cannot be effectively undertaken by other kinds of NHS bodies (eg the national institute for clinical excellence).
Big issue: NHS quality and performance
Related articles
Useful link: Department of Health

Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Sigoma)
Local Government Association group that represents 49 metropolitan and unitary councils outside London. Sigoma is part of the Local Government Association.
Related articles
Useful link: Sigoma

Specialist registrar
Junior doctor (or doctor in training) who has finished his or her basic specialist training as a house officer, and who has embarked upon higher specialist training in the area of medicine in which they wish to specialise in future. Specialist registrars can become consultants after at least six or seven years.
See also: consultant
and house officer
Related articles
Big issue: NHS staff
Useful link: British Medical Association

Staircasing
A phrase used to describe a process in which people vary the stake in the ownership of their home according to their circumstances. If a shared owner is struggling to pay their mortgage costs, they can "staircase down" by cutting the share of the home that they own and pay for more of the home in rent. Conversely, if their income rises they could "staircase up" by buying a bigger share in their home, or buy it outright.
Big issue: key worker housing
Related articles
Useful link: Circle 33 housing trust - Stepney

Stakeholder pension
Low-cost, flexible pensions aimed at low or middle earners, often in charities and campaign organisations. Launched in April 2001, all organisations employing five or more people must offer a pension facility, either internally or externally.
Big issue: charity finance
Useful link: occupational pensions regulatory authority

Stakeholders
People who have an interest in an organisation, its activities and its achievements, including customers, partners, employees, shareholders, owners, government and regulators. Modern consultation is usually "stakeholder focused".
Big issue: charity management

Stamp duty
A tax on property purchases currently levelled at 2.5% for properties worth more than £250,000 and 4% on those worth £500,000. As a way of encourage investment in poor neighbourhoods, it does not apply in deprived areas.
Related articles
Useful link: Inland Revenue - stamp duty

Standards fund
Ring fenced grant worth more than £1.5bn and used by the Department for Education to lever money into priorities such as literacy and numeracy. Councils have to come up with matching funding totalling more than £750m to get the full benefit of the cash.
Related articles
Useful link: Department for Education and Skills - standards fund

Star ratings
The annual grading system (zero to three stars) by which NHS acute trusts are measured against a range of performance indicators (such as waiting times and ward cleanliness). The system is designed to give an illustration of their clinical and managerial effectiveness. Three star trusts are allowed more managerial freedom; zero star trusts are placed on "probation" and given between three and 12 months to improve or face the threat of being taken over by alternative management.
Big issue: NHS quality and performance
Related articles
Useful link: NHS performance ratings, acute trusts 2000-01 (pdf)

Starter home initiative
A £250m government programme that ran between 2001and 2004 to help house 10,000 key workers in the south-east. The initiative was restricted to health workers, teachers and police officers. It was replaced in 2004 by the Key Worker Living programme, which is available to more public sector workers.
See also: equity loan
Related articles
Big issue: key worker housing
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - starter home initiative

Statement of financial activities (Sofa)
This is part of the statement of recommended practice or Sorp (see below). A charity's Sofa shows all the incoming resources becoming available during the year and all its expenditure for the year, and reconciles all the changes in its funds. The Sofa should account for all the funds of the charity and should be presented in columns representing the different types of funds.
Big issue: charity finance
Useful link: charity commission - Sofa explained

Sorp (Statement of recommended practice)
A framework for financial reporting for charities in England and Wales, intended to make reporting more consistent across the sector and more accessible to the lay reader and supporters. Includes the statement of financial activities and ensures charities state how much is spent on fundraising.
See also: charity law
Big issue: charity finance
Related articles
Useful link: Sorp - what has changed

Statutory authority
An organisation that is required by law to provide public services and receives central or local government funding, for example health authorities and local authorities.
Related articles

Statutory services
Refers to services provided by the local authority as a matter of course. Examples of statutory services include benefits, social services, hospital treatment on the NHS and schools. The debate in the voluntary sector is how far charities and voluntary organisations should provide statutory services and at what cost.
Related articles
Useful link: Department of Social Security - statutory benefits directory

Step-in powers
According to Department of Health guidelines, NHS foundation trusts which fail to comply with the terms of their regulatory licence (such as receiving an adverse inspection report, or attracting low star ratings in annual performance scores) will be subject to step-in powers held by the trust's independent regulator. These may range from the issue of formal warning letters, to removal of a trust's management board, to - in extreme cases - the dissolution of the trust itself.
Big issue: the NHS plan
Related articles
Useful link: Department of Health - NHS foundation trusts

Strategic health authority
Unveiled in the Shifting the Balance of Power reforms announced in April 2001 by the health secretary, Alan Milburn, the 28 authorities (created from the 95-odd district health authorities) will from April 2002 provide strategic management support for primary care trusts and hospitals in improving NHS performance.
Big issue: the NHS plan
Related articles
Useful link: Shifting the Balance of Power

Strategy unit review
Charity law reform blueprint entitled Private Action Public Benefit, produced in 2002 by the prime minister's strategy unit. Its recommendations were largely accepted by the government and formed the basis of the draft charities act.
See also: public benefit test
Big issue: charity reform
Useful link: Private Action Public Benefit

Streamlined committee system
Allows smaller councils to keep a more efficient version of the century-old committee style of local government, rather than adopting a mayor or cabinet.
Related articles
Useful link: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - information pack on new constitutions for councils

Street warden
Government-employed wardens whose main roles are to keep urban areas clear of litter and graffiti and to deter antisocial behaviour and minor crime. Street wardens patrol in bright uniforms and carry radios to keep them in contact with the police.
Related articles

Structural funds
Money from Brussels aimed at regenerating the most deprived parts of the European Union. The funds can be used for a wide range of projects, including new businesses, infrastructure, training and job creation. Governments have to match the EU's investment to take full advantage of the money.
Related articles
Useful link: Department for Trade and Industry - structural funds

Substance abuse
The use of a mood-altering substance in such a way that it is either socially unacceptable or impairs social, medical and/or occupational functioning.
Big issue: drugs and alcohol
Related articles
Useful link: DrugScope

Substance misuse
Use of substances in a manner for which they were not intended. It is often used in the same context as substance abuse.
Big issue: drugs and alcohol
Related articles
Useful link: DrugScope

Suicide
Suicide is intentional self-killing. This may be done directly, or as a result of neglecting to look after yourself. Since the 1960s the suicide rates have risen steeply among young people, especially young men who are four times more likely to kill themselves than young women. This is partly because of the methods most commonly used by men to kill themselves - hanging, gunshot wounds and car exhaust fumes - allow far less scope for medical treatment than those used by women (for whom poisoning is the most common).

There are around 4,000 recorded suicides per year in the UK, but it is estimated that it is under-reported by 30-50%. Depression is one of the commonest causes of suicide. Other major risk factors include alcoholism and schizophrenia.
See also: self-harm.
Big issues: mental health
Related articles
Useful link: NHS Direct - suicide

Super caretaker
A form of management for big housing estates used in some European countries that was praised by the government's social exclusion unit, and is now increasingly used in Britain. Super caretakers are usually uniformed employees who tenants can turn to tackle not only repairs and litter on their estate, but also settling disputes and dealing with antisocial behaviour.
Related articles
Useful link: Cabinet Office - key idea 19

Supported housing
Catch-all term for accommodation for vulnerable people with care needs. Examples include sheltered housing for older people, homeless hostels, and accommodation for people with learning difficulties and mental health problems.
Related articles
Useful link: Supporting People - briefing paper

Support for Disabled People: A New Contract for Welfare
Publication released in October 1998, setting out the government's intended reforms to services, benefits and legislation affecting disabled people.
Useful link: Support for Disabled People: A New Contract for Welfare

Supporting People
A funding system launched in 2003 to pay for the support costs of around one million vulnerable housing tenants. It is a limited annual lump sum paid direct to councils, and replaces a series of needs-based funding streams. It was originally intended to pay for relatively cheap services for groups such as rough sleepers, older people and women fleeing domestic violence. It was expected to cost no more than £750m a year. But in its first two years the annual budget ballooned to £1.8bn amid concerns that the programme was being used to subsidise more expensive care services.
Related articles
Useful link: Supporting People - how it will work?

Sure Start
Sure Start is a cornerstone of the government's drive to eradicate child poverty in 20 years, and to halve it within 10. It aims to improve children's life opportunities by working with parents and parents-to-be in deprived areas and providing better access to family support, advice on nurturing, health services and early learning. There are already more than 150 local Sure Start programmes across England and Wales, rising to at least 500 by 2004. Ministers are investing £580m in the scheme for the three years from April 2001.
Big issue: social exclusion
Related articles
Useful link: Sure Start homepage

Survey of prevalent HIV infected persons (Sophid)
The survey collects information showing how many individuals in the various stages of diagnosed HIV infection are resident in each health authority area. The data is used, among other purposes, to help calculate annual financial allocations to health commissioners (primary care trusts) responsible for planning the levels of service provision for their population.
Big issue: public health
Related articles
Useful link: public health laboratory service

Sustainability
Refers to moves by charities to move beyond short-term funding for their activities, to more durable and dependable funding so that work is adequately supported and expansion is possible where necessary. Strategies include selling products or services such as publications or consultancy. The NCVO has a sustainable funding project, aimed at providing advice, resources and consultation to help charities create strategies for sustainable funding.
Big issue: charity management
Useful link: NCVO guide to sustainable funding

Sustainable development
An approach to world development that aims to allow economic growth without damaging the environment or natural resources. The government has produced a strategy for ensuring sustainable development in the UK.
Related articles
Useful link: sustainable development - the government's approach

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