March 2010 Archives

A social worker who wrote an unauthorised reference for his son to use in a job application with Northampton Council has been admonished for three years.

A General Social Care Council conduct committee found George Horne had written the majority of the reference himself and did not obtain a signature. It concluded that this was a "one-off, but nevertheless serious error of judgement".

The woman who tried to blow the whistle on poor practice at Haringey Council has joined forces with the Liberal Democrats in an attempt to improve the borough's troubled children's services.

Nevres Kemal is standing for election at the same authority which she left under a cloud following a disputed child protection case in 2004.

As previously reported in Community Care, former social worker Kemal claimed Haringey Council had left seven child victims of sexual and physical abuse in the hands of their carers in that year.

The official National College of Social Work launched its shiny new website last week. Information about the college development group and consultation process is available to download.

Hot on its heels, the British Association of Social Workers has launched a shiny new section on its website detailing the association's proposals for an alternative college of social work across the UK. Interestingly, this includes the ballot paper being sent out to BASW members, which sets out the options and arguments for a UK-wide college. 

Has social work lost its political edge? Participants in a roles and tasks project in Northern Ireland think so.

A report published by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council found that social work is less political and needs to reaffirm its role as an influencer of societal change.

Not that I can draw from memory, but I gather that the profession, and particularly the British Association of Social Workers, commanded a much stronger influence in social work's heyday of the 1970s.

Around 100 union activists turned out to highlight the negative impact of cuts in the voluntary sector.

The union Unite said the pressure on staff to deliver services with limited resources during the recession was leading to high levels of stress among staff and negative outcomes for service users.

Ken Terry's decision to resign as a council member of the British Association of Social Workers highlights an important question about the setup of the organisation.

Terry criticised BASW for deciding to put proposals for a UK college of social work to a referendum without first obtaining the majority support of the council.

But it's important to note that the vote was held in accordance with BASW's constitution.

Care minister Phil Hope launched the long-awaited joint statement on the future roles and tasks of adult social workers at Skills for Care's annual conference last Thursday.

But, try as we might, Community Care has not been able to get a copy from the Department of Health.

Last night, at the launch of the General Social Care Council's annual education report, Hope once again referred to the statement, which he said was published last week.

The DH's response today? "We'll get back to you."

The British Association of Social Workers has been asked to reconsider its position on the development group for a national college of social work while it ballots its 12,500 members on forming its own UK-wide college.

Allan Bowman, chair of the National College of Social Work Development Group, said BASW had been an important part of discussions to date but there was a "clear conflict of interest".

News story to follow.

A residential social worker who failed to inform police an eight-year-old child in her care had run away has been cautioned by the General Social Care Council.

Jillian Outterside was due to collect the child from Paignton Community College, Devon, on 22 February 2008, but left without alerting the local authority, police or college staff to the child's disappearance.

One in three social workers is being bullied by his or her current manager, according to a straw poll by Community Care. We asked more than 780 readers, "Is your current manager a bully?" and around 250 answered, "Yes".

Also this week, a Unison workplace survey found two thirds of staff at Rotherham Council were being bullied or had been in the past, according to the Rotherham Advertiser.

Activists at Bolton's Unison branch have taken to the streets to campaign against proposed cuts to education social work at Bolton Council.

The union lobbied Bolton councillors over proposals for a combined total of £7.7m in cuts, with other affected areas including libraries and Connexions.