Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a part of a study examining the interrelationships between personalisation and safeguarding practice. Specifically the authors aimed to examine how safeguarding practice is affected by the roll out of personalisation in adult social care, particularly when the adult at risk has a personal budget or is considering this.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of annual reports from Adult Safeguarding Boards in England was accessed for content analysis covering the period 2009-2011. One part of this sample of local authorities was selected at random; the other authorities selected had been early adopters of personalisation. The reports were analysed using a pro forma to collect salient information on personalisation that was cross-referenced to identify common themes and differences.
Findings
The authors found variable mentions of personalisation as part of the macro policy context reported in the annual reviews, some examples of system or process changes at mezzo level where opportunities to discuss the interface were emerging, and some small reports of training and case accounts relevant to personalisation. Overall these two policy priorities seemed to be more closely related than had been found in earlier research on the interface between adult safeguarding and personalisation.
Research limitations/implications
There was wide variation in the annual reports in terms of detail, size and content, and reports for only one year were collected. Developments may have taken place but might not have been recorded in the annual reports so these should not be relied upon as complete accounts of organisational or practice developments.
Practical implications
Authors of Safeguarding Adults Board reports may benefit from learning that their reports may be read both immediately and potentially in the future. They may wish to ensure their comments on current matters will be intelligible to possible future readers and researchers.
Originality/value
There does not appear to have been any other previous study of Safeguarding Adult Boards’ annual reports. Documentary analysis at local level is under-developed in safeguarding studies.
Manthorpe, J.; Stevens, M.; Samsi, K.; Aspinal, F.; Woolham, J.; Hussein, S.; Ismail, M.; Baxter, K. (2015) Did anyone notice the transformation of adult social care? An analysis of Safeguarding Adult Board Annual Reports. Journal of Adult Protection, 17(1): 19-30.
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Founder and Director
Shereen Hussein is a Health and Social Care Policy professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom.
Shereen Founded the MENARAH Network in 2019, through an initial grant from the Global Challenge Research Fund, UKRI. She is a medical demographer with expertise in ageing, family dynamics, migration and long-term care systems. Shereen regularly collaborates with the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank in policy and research focused on ageing in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
Shereen received her undergraduate degree in statistics and a postgraduate degree in computer science at Cairo University. She completed an MSc in medical demography at the London School of Hygiene and a PhD in quantitative demography and population studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
Director, Analytical Research Ltd, and Affiliate Research Fellow, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Mohamed Ismail is a quantitative researcher whose work develops mathematical and computational frameworks to better understand ageing dynamics and long-term care systems, with a particular focus on how time spent in care shapes future demand, costs, and system behaviour.
With a background spanning engineering, computer science, and mathematical finance, he brings a structured, model-based perspective to complex social challenges. His recent research focuses on duration-dependent processes, how individual-level dynamics translate into population-level outcomes, and the development of tractable models of ageing and long-term care.
His recent work includes the development of a new index-based framework for estimating long-term care needs in data-scarce settings, with evidence from the Middle East and North Africa, published in Population Health Metrics in 2026. His research also examines long-term care policies and financing in the region, including how care systems can be integrated into broader economic and social development strategies.
Mohamed began his career as a quantitative analyst with global financial institutions, including Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Mizuho Financial Group, and Credit Suisse, before transitioning to quantitative social research. In 2009, he founded Analytical Research Ltd, applying statistical and mathematical modelling to policy-relevant questions in ageing and care.
He has collaborated with academic and policy institutions across the UK, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East on research spanning population ageing, migration, and long-term care systems. His work appears in peer-reviewed journals and international policy reports, including contributions to reports by the U.S. Census Bureau, United Nations, World Bank, and World Health Organization.
Mohamed has been a core member of the MENARAH Network since 2019, contributing quantitative and interdisciplinary perspectives to research on ageing and long-term care in the Middle East and North Africa.
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