The dominant theme of 2001 for social services has been uncertainty, following the introduction of the Health and Social Care Act. Meanwhile, the Victoria Climbie inquiry has further coloured the public's perception of social workers. Rachel Downey takes a look back over the year's major news events.
This year saw the initiation of the most radical shake-up to social services for three decades. The Health and Social Care Act 2001, which introduces care trusts, dominated the social care political agenda for the year. Ministers appeared to grant concessions making the formation of trusts voluntary, but health secretary Alan Milburn's address to the national social services conference in October implied they would be compulsory. By the end of the year, local government leaders were admitting the dominance of health in the new world order.
The uncertainty continued after the passage of the act, as doubt emerged over whether some of the first pilot trusts were in fact supposed to be the testing ground for the new bodies. The initial nine were called to a meeting to be told they were going to form care trusts. Meanwhile, some areas began doing everything but forming care trusts, including making the social services director the chief executive of the primary care trust, as in Barking and Dagenham, east London.
The success of Community Care's No Fear campaign in 1999 to protect social workers from violence in the workplace bore fruit in January, when every one of its aims were reflected in the government's national action plan, backed by £2m and a target to reduce violence and abuse by at least 25 per cent by 2005.
A three-year vocational degree programme replacing the Diploma in Social Work, to start in 2003, won support in March as a much-needed method to boost the professional status of social work. Carers won the right to an assessment with the implementation of the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 in April.
New Labour achieved its second term in June and increased the pressure on public services to "deliver, deliver, deliver". The Department of Health was restructured, enabling the further integration of health and social care.
The government intensified its strategy for tackling social exclusion, with the arrival of the neighbourhood renewal strategy action plan. This insisted that health should play a significant part in the proposed local strategic partnerships. Later in the summer, the government acknowledged that community groups could be key tools in its social inclusion strategy, publishing a specific compact for community groups, which flowed from the original compact of November 1998 between government and the voluntary sector.
Cash flowed forth, in particular for those bodies involving the voluntary and community sectors. A neighbourhood renewal "tsar" was appointed and shortly afterwards the bed and breakfast unit, under another "tsar", was set up to end the plight of those living in temporary accommodation.
The Victoria Climbie inquiry provided the most visible portrayal of social workers for the public. A Community Care survey conducted in the middle of the first stage of the inquiry found that 41 per cent felt the public perception of social workers had worsened because of the scapegoating of social worker Lisa Arthurworrey at the criminal trial of Victoria's murderers, her great aunt and her partner. The first stage of the inquiry heard how social services and other professions failed to protect the eight-year-old girl.
At the beginning of the year the government announced there would be a social care recruitment campaign but it wasn't launched until the national social services conference in October. This was overshadowed by Alan Milburn's attack on social services departments for failing to reform fast enough.
Social work recruitment difficulties deepened during the year, leading some employers to recruit from overseas. This raised the question of whether countries could afford to lose their own social workers to the UK. At Community Care Live in May, Zola Skweyiya, the South African minister for social development, urged local authorities to stop using his country as a recruitment pool for social workers.
Social services clients saw some promised improvements. The white paper Valuing People outlined a massive improvement to the lives of people with learning difficulties. However, the white paper on mental health diluted the role of approved social workers, particularly in compulsory treatment.
And for older people, the publication of the National Service Framework promised more consistent standards of health care and a challenge to ageism in the NHS. For people needing long-term care, the news was mixed. The government had already announced that nursing care in care homes would be free to residents, but then it capped the amount at £110 a week. Meanwhile, in Scotland the executive went the whole hog and said personal and nursing care would be paid for by the state.
In June, local authorities and the independent social housing sector warned that local authority budgets for Supporting People were in danger of falling short. From April 2003, the government initiative will transfer responsibility for funding support services linked to housing from the social security budget to local authorities.
The Commons select committee on public administration moved in to investigate whether private involvement in public services was threatening the public sector's traditional ethos and principles. This followed a controversial report from the Institute for Public Policy Research warning against using public-private partnerships and private finance initiatives as a response to the underfunding of public services.
Home secretary David Blunkett announced a revamp of the controversial asylum dispersal scheme, introducing new centres and ID cards, and dumping the hated voucher scheme.
The idea of unqualified "support, time, recovery workers" to work with mental health service users was touted in the final report of the workforce action team on the mental health National Service Framework.
The Adoption and Children Bill, which aims to make adoption easier, was re-entered for the parliamentary race later in the year. The new national adoption register was launched, and went to Norwood Ravenswood, a voluntary adoption agency.
Rows continued throughout the year over the new children and family court advisory support service, a merging of existing services including children's guardians. The self-employed guardians opposed reduced salaries and eventually won a court victory against the move to remove their independence.
Care home owners protested bitterly over their financial plight as the sector saw significant shrinkage. The government stepped in with new money for local authorities - referred to as "cash for change" and dependent on new agreements with independent providers, health and housing organisations.
We finally saw the home care charging guidance, but it clarified nothing, leaving it up to the "discretion" of local authorities, thus ensuring the continuation of the postcode lottery. However, there was one important concession at the end of the year when disabled people were exempted from charges. Months after the charging guidance came the new standards for home care, which were welcomed without the antagonism that greeted those for residential and nursing home care.
That antagonism continued, fuelled by the chairperson of the National Care Standards Commission, Anne Parker, who was accused of sending out conflicting signals at each conference she addressed. She also signalled that survival was the main aim of the NCSC in its first year. The British Medical Association later suggested merging the new organisation with the health inspectorate, the Commission for Health Improvement.
While old standards were still causing rows, new ones on adoption and foster care were issued but without opposition. Also unopposed was the new Children (Leaving Care) Act, which ensures that local authorities continue to support care leavers until the age of 21 and in some cases beyond.
We lost Maureen Oswin, the social researcher who opened our eyes to the appalling conditions facing children with learning difficulties, and Anne Van Meeuwen, principal officer at Barnardo's, who will be remembered for her work on adoption.
This was the year of the acronym, with one list of confusing names being replaced by another set, as Topps, the GSCC, the NCSC and Scie all came into being. Both CCETSW and NISW were consigned to history.
It was a year of confusing signals about the future of social services and a difficult one for almost all agencies as they struggled to remain within budget while staffing shortages grew. There were success stories - new research revealed that social workers had implemented the ambitions of the Children Act 1989 and the judge in the internet twins case praised the Flintshire social workers involved - but the dominant theme was of uncertainty about an unclear future.
