By Peter Beresford
Social workers are seen as the baddy in the personalisation debate perhaps because they are no longer care managers
Adult social work is once again in the melting pot. The Department of Health has been consulting further on the 'roles and tasks' of social work in England. There's been talk of separating adult and child social work training. And the clock has started on the government's revolutionary shift to 'personalisation'.
What will it all mean for social work with adults? Service users report how little they already see of qualified social workers. Practitioners and trade unionists fear increasing reports of cuts in professional posts with the implementation of personalisation. They are not reassured by plans to replace them with 'service brokers' who have no agreed qualification and are not independent of the service authority.
What is interesting since the first mention of personalisation in the 2005 Green Paper, Independence, Well-being and Choice, is how little has been said about what it will really mean for adult social work in 21st century social care. There's been some vague talk about the role of 'navigator' and increasing attention has been paid by policymakers to the 'reserved tasks' of social work - that is, what only social workers are meant to be able to do.
On the other hand, there has been quite a lot of talk about what social work won't and mustn't be under personalisation. It won't be a role preoccupied with rationing and assessment, as it has been since the introduction of care management. Truth is, there has been some tendency to paint professional social work as the baddy in personalisation discussions. Also, practitioners so far have had very limited involvement in shaping personalisation, although their ownership will be crucial for its success. This must change.
But the key point is professional social work is NOT care management. Care management has degraded it. Social work at its best is concerned with supporting people's independence and self-determination through the social approach that centrally underpins it. It can do this working with the individual, the family, through group and community work. This is already how service users see specialist palliative care social work.
The real future for professional adult social work in the brave new world of personalisation is as a unique support service that can help people live their lives. As such, it can be something they want to pay for out of their individual budgets. That is both the challenge and the opportunity for future social work.
Peter Beresford is professor of social policy at Brunel University and chair of user group Shaping Our Lives
What will it all mean for social work with adults? Service users report how little they already see of qualified social workers. Practitioners and trade unionists fear increasing reports of cuts in professional posts with the implementation of personalisation. They are not reassured by plans to replace them with 'service brokers' who have no agreed qualification and are not independent of the service authority.
What is interesting since the first mention of personalisation in the 2005 Green Paper, Independence, Well-being and Choice, is how little has been said about what it will really mean for adult social work in 21st century social care. There's been some vague talk about the role of 'navigator' and increasing attention has been paid by policymakers to the 'reserved tasks' of social work - that is, what only social workers are meant to be able to do.
On the other hand, there has been quite a lot of talk about what social work won't and mustn't be under personalisation. It won't be a role preoccupied with rationing and assessment, as it has been since the introduction of care management. Truth is, there has been some tendency to paint professional social work as the baddy in personalisation discussions. Also, practitioners so far have had very limited involvement in shaping personalisation, although their ownership will be crucial for its success. This must change.
But the key point is professional social work is NOT care management. Care management has degraded it. Social work at its best is concerned with supporting people's independence and self-determination through the social approach that centrally underpins it. It can do this working with the individual, the family, through group and community work. This is already how service users see specialist palliative care social work.
The real future for professional adult social work in the brave new world of personalisation is as a unique support service that can help people live their lives. As such, it can be something they want to pay for out of their individual budgets. That is both the challenge and the opportunity for future social work.
Peter Beresford is professor of social policy at Brunel University and chair of user group Shaping Our Lives
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