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Jacqueline Harmitt: substance misuse worker

When Jacqueline Harmitt joined Cambridgeshire Council's youth offending service as a substance misuse worker three years ago she had very different expectations of what her work would involve.

"I thought I'd come across the glamorised drugs like cocaine, but it is mainly alcohol," she says. Along with three other substance misuse workers she is part of a 57-strong team and has a caseload of between eight and 20 clients aged 11 to 18.

With this in mind, Harmitt is clear what the next government should do to assist her young clients. "Government should be a lot harder on advertisers. My teenage daughter thinks the Bacardi ads on TV are cool but young people don't see the consequences of drinking. Everyone in the advert looks gorgeous and it is seen as something to aspire to."


She thinks the government should not close its eyes to the dangers of alcohol just because drinking is socially acceptable. "Some of my clients are drinking 120 units of alcohol a week and have no idea what they are doing to their bodies."

The next government should fund local authorities to provide peer mentoring schemes to reach those young people who are misusing alcohol and drugs or who are involved in offending behaviour, she adds. "If we had more peer mentoring schemes young people could see that other people like themselves have been able to move on. There is a different way of thinking and living."

She also wants policies and targets to be less focused on city life. "Young offenders in rural communities can have problems accessing the available support. If their parents don't have transport or the money to get to the scheme the young person misses out."

But, more than anything, Harmitt wants the next government to "acknowledge the difficulties we face day in, day out when the resources aren't adequate enough". Politicians should be aware of the burn-out rate in social care and reward the workers appropriately. "We are seen as do-gooders but that has negative connotations with the public. We are not seen by society as valid and this view is reflected in our pay."

Nicola Read: community care social worker

If there is one thing that Edinburgh Council social worker Nicola Read dislikes about the election campaign, it is the negative approach adopted by the major parties. "A lot of it involves picking on groups such as gypsies and asylum seekers. This sabotages the creation of a culture of respect for all individuals."

Read has been a social worker for seven years. She works in a multi-disciplinary team of 12, dealing with adult clients ranging from older people to those with learning difficulties.

Perhaps as a result of her broad client group, there is one particular aim Read would like the next government to meet: "There needs to be a greater recognition of the role the sector plays, in particular the rights of service users and their carers. At the moment there is some recognition but it is not universal, it's patchy." She also highlights the "shockingly small" allowance that people receive for caring for someone for more than 35 hours a week. "If we want to value care we have to value carers and that is about rewarding them."

Simplifying the benefits system should also be a priority for the next administration, she says, as some clients find it complicated - and it always takes time for benefits to be processed.

To encourage more people to join the profession, Read thinks that the next government should consider writing off student debts. She would also like to see a UK-wide review of remuneration, career structure and terms and conditions in an attempt to attract more candidates. "If it is a stressful job it needs to be recognised in working conditions and pay."

There is one thing that she would like the next government to stop: the scapegoating of social workers. "The government must have a responsibility to lead public opinion and not just respond to it or pander to the lowest common denominator," Read says. "I'd like to see more championing of social workers and not arguments against them."

Chris Coates: mental health team leader

Chris Coates is the team leader of the Rural Emotional Support Team (Rest) in Staffordshire, which he launched four years ago to provide emotional and mental health support to the farming community.

He feels the next government must ensure that mental health services are accessible to all service users, regardless of the communities in which they live. He says: "We are available between 6am and 10pm because our clients can't get to their GP or an outpatients appointment during working hours."


He also wants greater exchange of ideas between statutory agencies. Coates says Rest works hard to improve the mental health of its clients but its efforts can be undone by a poorly-worded letter or phone call. "We get a lot of our clients feeling well, then they get a letter from another organisation that doesn't take into consideration their mental stability and it tips them over the edge," he says. "A jigsaw can look fantastic until you take one piece out of it."

In terms of how the future government can improve matters for social care professionals themselves, Coates wants less emphasis on the so-called differences between statutory and non-statutory service providers. "The government should champion all social care workers as we are all equally equipped with the same levels of professionalism but sometimes we in the voluntary sector don't feel this happens."

In addition, he thinks there should be a simpler bidding process for mental health services funding so that more voluntary agencies can apply. More consideration should also be given to the work of non-statutory organisations, which can deliver services as well as their statutory counterparts. Adopting these changes, he says, would encourage more people to apply for work in the voluntary field.
Like his local authority colleagues, Coates wants the next government to champion social care, and address pay discrepancies. "Mental health social care professionals should all start on the same level of pay and it should increase according to their skills and experience."

Celia Winter: children and families assistant team manager

Providing enough suitable accommodation for young people leaving care should be a priority, says Celia Winter, a children and families assistant team manager at Herefordshire Council. "There is a serious housing shortage for kids of this age and they end up sofa-surfing," she says. "The government needs to look at the needs of these young people because they are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, who are cast out into society."

She believes that, although the after-care of some client groups, including former prisoners and psychiatric patients, is being addressed by government, young care leavers are disappearing off the radar. "We have a case where a young care leaver has put her own child into care as she has nowhere to live."

She would also like more resources to be allocated to meeting the needs of care leavers. Winter describes the statutory funding provided as "absolutely ridiculous" and wants the next government to commit to investing more money into the care system. "Projects such as Sure Start have made a huge difference but we will still have children coming in to care," she says.

One problem her team regularly faces is the number of children who have to be placed in private residential care homes because of the shortage of foster carers. Winter describes the fees as "scandalous" and urges the next government to establish a task force to investigate whether residential care should be provided by private companies or local authorities.

At 56 years old, Winter is approaching retirement. Despite having more than 20 years' experience she earns less than her son who has taught in a primary school for 10 years. This is an area she also wants addressing. "Our salaries are so low in comparison with other caring professions," she says. "The young people who are coming into social care will start on a starting salary way below other professions."