In less than six months' time, Adults Directors like me will have new responsibilities in our in-trays. The Care Act 2014 replaces the legal patchwork of social care legislation that has been with us since the founding of the welfare state. And it gives local authorities new legal requirements. One area is over councils providing advocacy for people who have nobody in their lives to rely on.

From April, councils will have to provide independent advocacy services. Many already do this but the legislation makes it a legal requirement that advocacy's offered when people have ‘substantial difficulty' in being fully involved in decision-making.