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First it was the paperless office. Now advances in technology could be ushering in the era of the workerless office, writes Derren Hayes.

And social care staff are in a strong position to take advantage of the changes.

More than five million people - one-fifth of the workforce - already spend time working at home or on the move and researchers from the Economic and Social Research Council and Tomorrow Project say mobile working is set to boom.

The advent of laptops, mobile phones and e-mail has driven this change. And social workers will be at the forefront of it, especially considering the drive to get fieldworkers away from their desks more.


John Beer, social services director at Southampton Council, says the latest technology lets social workers update files immediately, reducing the need to go into the office. This, in turn, is leading councils to reassess the need for every social worker to have their own desk.

When Liverpool Council introduced hotdesking to its children's services last year some workers complained they had insufficient space and had to take client files home.

It may be that social workers will simply have to adjust to the changing environment.

Beer says: "It is madness to pay for a desk and computer that is used for a quarter of the day. It is inefficient to keep coming back to your desk and there are other council premises you can pick up your e-mails from."

Jan Miller, director of the Scottish Voluntary Sector Social Services Workforce Unit, says mobile technology is helping social workers become more efficient, but warns it would be a mistake for this to undermine team working in social work departments.


"There will always be the need for social workers to meet to discuss difficult cases and offer each other advice and emotional support, particularly in child protection," she says.

Bridgend Council's head of adult services, Gordon Jones, agrees that field social workers still value feeling part of a team and keeping in touch with colleagues, but that they could retain this and be more efficient through remote working.

He says: "We're piloting remote working to encourage a better work-life balance and we're also looking at equipping staff with Palm Pilots [handheld computers] and laptops to input and access data."

Bridgend care teams input information straight on to laptops when doing assessments in clients' homes, but Jones says there is "great potential" for social workers to send data on to case files in the same way.