Form and function: views from members of adult protection committees in England and Wales

Little is known about the relationship between organisations charged with the protection of vulnerable adults in England and Wales. This paper investigates adult protection inter-agency relationships in the context of an adult protection framework that gave local authorities the lead role and charged other agencies with working in partnership with them. The data reported are from focus groups undertaken with members of 26 Adult Protection Committees (APCs) from England and Wales during 2005-2006. The APCs were selected using a stratified sampling frame and 271 professionals participated. Analysis revealed that participation in the local strategic decision-making setting of the APC was influenced by the local history of partnership working, information-sharing, affective relationships, understanding of respective roles and a shared acknowledgement of the importance of adult protection. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of government reviews of local discretion around adult protection systems.