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Article History

Received: 25 April 2020

Accepted: 12 November 2020

First Online: 30 November 2020

Ethical approval and Consent to participate

: This study was reviewed and approved by England’s National Research Ethics Service (NRES) Committee East Midlands–Derby (reference 15/EM/0414) and by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS reference RG15-025). Research governance was also obtained from each of the four local authorities to recruit individuals who receive social care services.

: To participate in the study, participants were asked to complete and return the questionnaire. By returning the completed questionnaire, they were agreeing to take part in the study and for their responses to be used for analysis. Code numbers were used for each participant, and only the research team was able to link the code number to the participant’s name. Participants were informed that once their participation in the study was completed, the files containing any personal information and the unique identifying number linking the participant to their replies be destroyed. This means that it will not be possible to identify them in any of the research reports. Participants were further informed that the research findings will be reported back to the Department of Health and Social Care, published in scientific papers and presented at conferences.

: Some authors had financial (salary) support from the two funding bodies: CP from the NIHR via programme funding for CLAHRC Oxford, and LB, DF, KJ and MP from the Department of Health and Social Care England via programme funding for QORU and subsequent QSO policy research unit; the authors declare no financial relationships with any other organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; the authors declare no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.