GSCC to define skills of social workers

The General Social Care Council is to carry out research to
define the skills needed by social workers and the range of tasks
they undertake in the light of the new demands made in the adult
green paper and the forthcoming children’s workforce
development plan, writes Simeon
Brody.

Speaking at a Community Care parliamentary briefing on
the social care workforce yesterday, GSCC chief executive Lynne
Berry described the level of knowledge about the workforce as
“shocking”

She said unless the sector could define who the social care
workers were, what they did, where they worked and the problems
facing the workforce, the problems would continue.

While Berry was confident of being able to map the social care
profession, she was less convinced about being able to define the
role of the rest of the workforce because it was so diffuse.

She warned that different roles in the social care field which
ranged from dealing with people with highly complex needs to
relatively straightforward tasks needed differentiating to avoid
them all being down-played.

Professor Sue Balloch, director of Brighton University’s
health and social policy research centre, warned that the adult
green paper’s emphasis on individuals choosing their own care
must be accompanied by appropriate training for the staff who
advise them.

She said: “By encouraging users to turn to unqualified
people will put them at risk.”