It could become even more expensive to practise as a social worker.
The report into the backlog of the General Social Care Council's conduct cases describes, among other things, an organisation that faces financial bedlam.
According to the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, the conduct function in 2007-8 cost £640,000, with legal fees adding £1.35 million.
This year, conduct cases are expected to cost £3.4 million.
So who will mind the £1.4 million gap? Given Whitehall cash constraints, the Department of Health is unlikely to pick up the tab.
Instead, all the indications are that social worker registration fees - currently £30 a year - will have to rise.
It will be a blow to professionals already at the mercy of pay freezes and marginal salary increases.
But it is only the tip of the iceberg.
A social worker earning £30,000 a year may have to pay more than £200 a year to join a trade union, in this case Unison.
Becoming a member of the British Association of Social Workers, and with five years' experience under their belt, will cost an extra £213, although this would be reduced to £170 after tax relief.
And they may need to join the national college of social work when it is established, at a fee yet to be announced.
Re-mortgage anyone?
Would you pay more to register with the GSCC? Join the debate on CareSpace
I am very surprised to learn that social workers will be expected to pay for the GSCC's financial problems.
The GSCC is there to protect the public, which is good. However, it does not protect social workers who find their reputation tarnished sometimes due to poor management.
Often social workers are exposed and placed on the GSCC web site before a hearing takes place. What about innocent until proven guilty? When such action is taken to expose workers before they are proven guilty, this leaves all social workers feeling demoralised and vulnerable. This may also explain why many people are reluctant to consider a profession in social work.
Although the GSCC is there to protect the public, and social workers work hard to ensure that the principles and guideline set out are implemented, social workers are still left without a voice - yet at the same time are expected to pay more.
This is very sad and upsetting. What about choice?
I will leave the GSCC before I pay them idiots more money to continue making even more cock ups. What was the term used in the recent/ongoing financial crisis - something about not rewarding failure.
I neither agree that there are budget constraints causing the backlog and certainly not with the criticism of the Care Standards (First-Tier) Tribunal - in relation to budgets, that is misleading when the core problem relates to fundamental competence of GSCC staff/management and directorate and on the latter (the CST) I rather think they have done very well, thank you.
The issue of funding is linked to independence from Government (DoH grant) and that can be addressed by Government taking direct control over the GSCC or amalgamating it with the proposed new Social Work College and applying a reasonable fee (compared to nursing/lawyers etc) for registration - but only if the current employees are not re-employed in that organisation.
The GSCC failed from day one, it has continued to fail throughout its miseable existence and it is sod-all to do with budgets or passing on the cost to fund its continued miserable existence to registrants.
Wilt
www.regulatorwatch.co.uk