Direct payment users treasure their relationships with their personal assistants, but can feel uncomfortable on pay dayBy Simon HengOne of the great things about being trained as a cognitive behavioural therapist is that I can now lead a guilt-free existence, which, as I was brought up in the faith which relies on guilt for its ongoing membership, I take as a personal achievement.
Continue reading "'I feel embarrassed when I pay my personal assistants'" »
by Helen Bonnick
As the economy worsens, social workers will be busier dealing with rising levels of poverty and debt. Can we cope?As the new term starts, school-based family workers are set to be faced with more debt - and poverty - related work in the months ahead. Although the focus may be on raising levels of attendance and achievement, many issues centre on the family's financial situation. Whether it is an inability to afford a school uniform, a new pair of shoes, dinner money or outing expenses, poverty impacts on a child's readiness to learn in many direct ways.
Continue reading "The trickle down effects of recession: school social workers spot the difference" »
As more women enter the jobs market, the burden of care upon them can be reduced by helping more men become carers, write academics Hilary Land (far left) and Susan HimmelweitMost care is still provided by family members, usually women, which may seem to the government to be a free source of care. In practice it is paid for by carers who have reduced opportunities to do other things with their lives.
Continue reading "Time for men to join the carer workforce" »
A recent report that said people should move to London shows that stereotypes live on - even among the political classes 
By Jennifer HarveyWe don't want to leave our northern cities to over-populate the South. Not if you paid us, as it suggests in the Cities Unlimited report from think-tank Policy Exchange.
If we have areas that are deprived, just remember who destroyed the traditional industries in the 1980s; I've not forgotten, my father was a steelworker and my brother was a miner.
Continue reading "Not so grim up north: Why Policy Exchange's Cities Unlimited report is so wrong" »
By Rumi Hussain
Last week family intervention projects were finally thrown into discussions on tackling the root causes of antisocial behaviour and youth crime.
Continue reading "NCH Hackney Family Intensive Project and the Youth Crime Action Plan" »
By Steve Arthington
Amid talk of choice and freedom, service users must remember they also gain more responsibility under personalised services
Continue reading "Direct payments, personalisation... who now cares for whom?" »
by Mike Wardle How well does the degree prepare social workers for practice? Two years on since it produced its first graduates, the degree is in the spotlight.
A series of regional visits is being organised by the Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families as part of a joint review of the degree, so the publication last week of DH's three-year evaluation is timely.
The degree is still relatively new, but the early evidence suggests that there is much for the sector to be confident about.
Continue reading "Practice placements are the key; not separate social work degrees" »
By Peter Corser
Social workers must hide their emotions in the cause of non-judgemental practice. But they don't have to "like" their clients...
Continue reading "Do social workers have to 'like' their clients?" »
by Steve Rogowski
Under New Labour, there have been longstanding concerns in the public services about the amount of bureaucracy and resulting pre-occupation with paperwork, targets and performance indicators. Teachers, police officers, health and social workers all bemoan and question this aspect of their jobs.
Continue reading "Police autonomy is the way forward for social work" »
By Simon Heng
I'm a service user because I'm physically disabled, paralysed from the neck downwards, the result of a tumour on my spinal cord, 14 years ago. I was one of the first people in my area to try direct payments and I'm one of its success stories.
Continue reading "The care workers who fail in their duty" »
by Simon Stevens
One of the interesting things to come out of personalisation is that suddenly trade unions have pricked up their ears and want a piece of the action after failing to recognise personal assistants for the past few decades.
Continue reading "My problem with trade unions" »
By Dr Steve Rogowski
Form-obsessed, keyboard-chained, over-worked, hard-pressed, mega-stressed, resource-stretched, sorely-tested...social workers.
I may be getting a bit long in the tooth, but apart from the occasional piece from an academic and the odd letter to the social care press (note the word care rather than work), nobody seems to be concerned about what is happening to social work. The silence of the British Association of Social Workers in particular is baffling.
Continue reading "How social work is being changed…for the worse" »
By Richard Lewin
The generous earnings of those who run social care bodies should be reflected in the lower ranks too
Continue reading "Fair wages for all" »
by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
Health secretary Alan Johnson wants GPs to tackle the ‘sick-note culture’ and help the government to get some of the 2.7 million people on long-term incapacity benefit back to work. This is likely to lead to tensions between GPs and social workers, teachers and nurses and other public service workers – all professional groups with a relatively high level of sickness-related absenteeism.
Continue reading "Sicknote culture and social workers" »
by Peter Beresford
I have increasingly come to feel that social care is a vital sounding board for the place and times in which it is set. We can tell a lot about the values, priorities and sense of mutual responsibility of a society from the formal arrangements it makes to support people to live independent and interdependent lives.
Continue reading "Relearning lessons about the importance of social care practitioners" »
