July 2010 Archives

A children's unit manager has been struck off the social care register after she used unit funds to purchase items for her own personal use.

Bronte Smith also used her work mobile to make unauthorised personal calls costing around £400, a General Social Care Council conduct committee found.

More details are available on the GSCC's website

Maurice Bateman and Corinne May-Chahal, joint interim chairs of the College of Social Work, have released this statement about the Department of Health's decision to abolish the General Social Care Council:

"It is important that the College of Social Work, as the national voice for the profession, is fully involved in consultations to establish future arrangements for the regulation of the profession. These arrangements must take into account the particular demands of social work and the settings in which social work is practiced.

"Social work will comprise a large proportion of the work of the new regulatory organisation and the College will expect to see this reflected in its governance and practice."

Reading between the lines, the College development team (much like the rest of the sector) was not involved in or consulted about the decision to transfer the GSCC's functions to the Health Professions Council. Yet one of the College's main functions going forwards will be to represent the social work profession in discussions with policy makers in government. How is it to do this if it's not at the table in the first place?

What do you think should be the main functions of the College? Take part in the consultation

A newly qualified social worker has hit out at the lack of support he receives from his employers despite being on the Children's Workforce Development Council's NQSW programme:

"Managers and seniors are so overworked that the support we are supposed to be receiving isn't being offered, despite asking for help and support (we've been accused of being "needy")," he said on our forum, CareSpace. "I'm lacking direction and support and I'm not sure I can handle a whole year."

How many other newly qualifieds are not getting the extra support they were promised? It's a worrying thought.

Thurrock Council is axing 10 social worker jobs and freezing recruitment as part of a £4m budget squeeze, according to local reports.

Meanwhile, more than 100 care staff won £1m in compensation from Excelcare after the Essex-based care provider sacked them and offered them new contracts with a 40% pay cut.

Excelcare claimed that it had to put in place new contracts for the staff, or close the homes, as the council had failed to give them the full running costs of the transfer. But Unison said the new contracts breached the Transfer of Undertakings regulations, which protect pay and conditions.

A member of the team developing the College of Social Work has joined in a debate about its priorities on CareSpace.

She has revealed that the team is working on a statement called "What is social work?", which is due to be published on the College's website. It will outline exactly what is meant by "social work" and clarify the role of a social worker.  

The team is also doing some work on the reserved functions that only qualified social workers should do, she says. They hope to produce a document in the Autumn. 

Last month, 10 care workers from across the UK showcased their skills in the WorldSkills UK Caring Competition final, which was hosted by the National Skills Academy for Social Care. This video shows what it was like at the regional heats. Keep an eye out for overall winner, Chantelle Challender, who's wearing red.

Three conduct cases have wrapped up at the General Social Care Council:

1. A senior residential support worker accused of using "unreasonable and inappropriate force" to remove a service user from his office was cleared of misconduct.

2. A social worker who was convicted of obtaining money by deception and falsely claiming Social Security benefits was admonished for five years. (Usually cases involving dishonesty invoke a harsher sanction, but in this case there were several mitigating factors)

3. Wendy Wilkinson, a team manager who "misused" money that was meant to pay for a service user's funeral expenses, was struck off.

School nurses and classroom assistants are being asked to give up some of their summer holidays to help overstretched social workers at Calderdale Council, according to the Halifax Courier.

An interesting debate about this is unfolding on CareSpace.

"On the face of it, it seems perfectly acceptable to me to employ (even temporarily) people who will be able to do those tasks which are not social work specific," says Grinch.

"...On the other hand, if they are expecting the temp workers to complete tasks that only a qualified worker should do then this is neither safe nor accountable."

What do other people think?

Care workers in the private sector in England are paid just £6 an hour - around 50p an hour less than supermarket cashiers, who receive £6.47 on average.

The latest State of the Adult Social Care Workforce report from Skills for Care warns that care workers in the private sector, where turnover is high, may be inclined to leave for retail jobs, or at least more inclined than those working in local government.

A disappointingly low number of social workers, employers, service users and students have responded to the online consultation on the College of Social Work.

Around 500 people have filled in the questionnaire since it went live in May. When you consider that there are over 80,000 registered social workers and 17,000 students in England alone, it doesn't seem like much.