Community Care's online discussion forum Have your say offers the opportunity to air your views on a controversial subject. This week's issue is the government's recruitment campaign for social workers.
Will it work? Is the emphasis on the image of social work the right one? Or should the campaign be combined with pay rises for social workers?
Have your say by clicking here
Comments we have received in recent debates:
"I write in response to your invitation to join the debate on the new National Care Standards Commission (NCSC).
The new commission could avoid the brewing storm if it adopts a caring, human approach to caring, human problems. If it adopts a rigid, bureaucratic and dictatorial attitude it will find that it will face a great deal of opposition.
Many service users are being cared for by volunteers in a family setting. They do not HAVE TO do it. They do not do it primarily for the money because they are not paid a commercial rate for the service they provide.
They do it because they care. Moreover more carers are going to be needed since care in the community is the way forward. If carers are not handled with understanding then I can stormy times ahead. I suggest the commission has among its advisers people with experience in all the areas that it will regulate.
Most of the staff who will work for the commission will be inspectors from existing local authority social services inspection departments. Many of these, although experienced in social work and inspection are not experienced hands-on carers and do not have the day-to-day-living-with-service-users experience. They would do well to listed to experienced carers."
Peter J F Conquest
Northamptonshire
"I read with great interest the article in community care 23-29 August on the campaign aimed at dispelling the negative image of social work practice.
The proposed efforts are to improve recruitment and retention of social worker practitioners. John Ransford comments that in his view it is that the issue is one of image and once public understanding is improved the issue of recruitment and retention will resolve its self. As a social work practitioner with several years' experience I have seen many competent professional social work practitioners leave the profession due to the poor pay and conditions. If the government is serious about this professional group of people, why has the question of pay and condition been avoided?
Why given the early indications given by directors of social services has it taken this long to even consider the state of social work practitioners. As a supervisor of students I find that students become disillusioned whilst still in training. If the government was serious about the current negative trends in social work, maybe it would be advisable to consider paying social workers a salary, which reflects the professional training, they have undertaken.
Given that image is very often associated with status and status is usually associated with salaries. Is it not time to review the whole structure for those committed individuals who continue in the social care profession? Sadly until then we will continue to lose the wealth of expertise and professionalism, with people leaving the social care field."
M. Jamil
Social worker mental health
