Service user empowerment in a disability charity: the rhetoric and reality

This paper reports the findings of a study looking at service user empowerment within a disability charity which is a large voluntary sector organisation (VSO) providing a range of services to disabled people in the United Kingdom. It draws on different conceptual frameworks of power and the related models of empowerment. The findings demonstrate that there is no clear definition of empowerment, that the VSO employs different strategies and models for service user empowerment but that, ultimately, strategic control of the organisation remains with the Board of Trustees and senior staff at Central Office. These findings contradict some of the organisation’s rhetoric surrounding service user empowerment.