September 2010 Archives

Unions were concerned last week to hear that the Department for Education has decided to pilot independent social work practices for children in care in up to 20 more local authorities in England.

They say the practices could lead to more bureaucracy, a blurring of accountability, job losses and ultimately the privatisation of children's services.

But at the Labour Party Conference yesterday, local government experts praised the employee-led model - co-operatives in particular - as a more cost-effective way of delivering services.

They are not an excuse for local authorities to "cut services adrift", insisted John Merry, leader of Salford Council.

He was joined in his defence by Clive Betts, chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, who declared co-operatives "can do things more efficiently and save money".

The entire session, on delivering best practice at a local level, was a bit of a co-operative love-fest - and there was a distinct lack of union voices to give it balance.

There was talk, however, of the importance of working with the unions to "make sure they are part of the solution". I'm sure they will be pleased to hear that.

Elsewhere, people were talking about Suffolk Council.

Richard Watts, executive member of children and young people at Islington Council, referred to the "Suffolk-ation" of services.

"I think Suffolk is going to find themselves in a difficult position in a few year's time, when some of those [outsourced] services don't work," he said at a session on the role of local government in public services.

In stark contrast to the co-operatives session, the general consensus in this room was that some services simply work better in-house.

Pictured: personal adviser Cate White from the Evolve YP social work practice in Staffordshire talks to a young person in care (credit: Ed Maynard)

Baby P's social workers were sacked to get Haringey Council "off the hook" and satisfy demand for retribution during the second trial of Peter Connelly's mother, it was claimed today.

Maria Ward and Gillian Christou are claiming unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal.

Their solicitor, Nick Toms, accused the council's assistant chief executive Stuart Young, who led the investigation, of "giving what was demanded by the media to get Haringey Council off the hook which was the heads of Maria Ward and Gillian Christou," The Daily Telegraph reports.

Meanwhile The Sun has finally picked up on the role lawyers played in the Peter Connelly case.

One of the reasons given for Ward's and Christou's dismissal was that they failed to tell lawyers that Peter's mother had breached the conditions of a child protection plan.

The hearing continues.

Community Care's new Student Zone has received overwhelming support from sector leaders, including the president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the General Social Care Council's head of education and one of the interim chairs of the College of Social Work.

But what we really want to know is how students feel about it. Will it make all the difference between meeting and missing that all-important essay deadline? Will it help you get the most out of your next placement? And, perhaps more importantly, do you like our new cartoon character Sam (seen above working hard at his desk)? Let us know what you think on CareSpace. 

Lib Dem MPs queued up to praise David Cameron's Big Society agenda (above) at the party's annual conference in Liverpool today.

Children's minister Sarah Teather said the qualities of "localism, pluralism and diversity are what the Liberal Democrats are all about", she said at a fringe event on the issue.

"I don't care which party it might have come from, the Big Society is a liberal concept."

Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, was cautiously optimistic and said it was important to capitalise and build on existing social networks, such as community councils and housing co-operatives. 

He was most concerned that local authorities, police forces and other statutory organisations should welcome volunteers as part of their workforce.

"We must change the culture that says you have to have paid people in public services."

Meanwhile poll results from IPSOS Mori found views among the public were mixed. Half of people said they had heard of the Big Society and half said they hadn't, while 54% said they thought it was a good idea in principle but wouldn't work in practice. More than half (57%) it was an excuse by government to save money by cutting back services.

Ben Page, chief executive of IPSOS Mori, said there was a high level of volunteering during the Labour government but failed to rise, despite the investment made in trying to increase it.

Speakers and delegates were generally upbeat about the chances of the Big Society prospering, but Page closed his presentation with a warning.

Some people thought they should get involved personally, according to the poll, but more widespread was the view that "people liked the idea of other people getting involved".

A Telegraph columnist has rounded on unions for "squealing" about spending cuts and threatening to launch co-ordinated industrial action in protest.

At the TUC annual conference this week, general secretary Brendan Barber (pictured) promised to lead the fight against attacks on members' jobs, pay and pensions.

Jeff Randall dismissed the unions' argument in his column for the Daily Telegraph by blinding us with science - or, specifically, maths.

According to Randall, the fuss over spending cuts is a storm in the teacup, as the coalition government is actually spending more than the Labour government when inflation is taken into account.

The coalition government's net spend is £652 billion, compared to the £493 billion in 2005 when Labour were in power.

"According to my friends in the economics team at Deutsche Bank, £652 billion today would have been worth about £561 billion in 2005," Randall said.

For what it's worth, the unions' firebrand approach can come across as a little overblown. Although he was clearly being deliberately provocative, if you listened to Barber's speech on Monday you'd be forgiven for thinking we were on the brink of armageddon.

But Randall misses the point that local government workers are bearing the brunt of the cuts - how many other sectors would be able to cope with a reduction of more than £1bn in funding over a year?

A social care worker in Northern Ireland has been banned from practice for assaulting a service user. 

Belia Bernard was convicted of the offence at Newtownabbey Magistrate's Court on 23 June 2009. The Northern Ireland Social Care Council has not released details of the assault.

In other news, Birmingham Council has informed 26,000 staff, including carers, that their contracts are to be changed and cuts in pay and conditions imposed, The Guardian reports.

Strong words from Fighting Monsters about impending strikes. We were wondering in the office whether social workers would start to rally behind the unions.

"I feel far more inclined to strike now, over this, and over this government's attitude than at any time in the past," says FM.

Even if all social workers worked to contract for one day (rather than an all out strike) it would have a huge impact across the country.

Would you strike to protect social care? Join in the debate 

Picture by Rex Features

Four former social work staff are claiming unfair dismissal after being sacked for distributing a joke e-mail of convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, according to the BBC.

They have raised an action against South Lanarkshire Council alleging their sacking was "disproportionate" to what they did.

Another social worker at the council, William Simpson, was banned from practising by the Scottish Social Services Council for forwarding this and other emails.

Join in the debate on CareSpace  

A mother of four faces jail after attacking two social workers at their office in Edinburgh, The Scotsman reports. The woman apparently pulled one social worker to the ground by her hair and spat on her, before yanking out a piece of the other worker's hair.

There were 692 recorded incidents of abuse toward staff in Edinburgh Council's children and families department in the year to the end of March 2010, the paper reveals.

Community Care's special report into violence against social care staff in May found nine out of 10 social workers have suffered abuse, assaults and threats. We believe the only way to solve the problem is to press the government for a national system of reporting incidents in social care, bringing the sector into line with the NHS.

Half of the social workers in England are receiving less than two hours of supervision per month and some receive none at all, according to a poll by the General Social Care Council.

Readers of the GSCC's magazine, Social Work Connection, were also asked how much support they received from their employers to complete post-registration training and learning. Almost 60% described their employer as not very, or not at all concerned with ensuring staff meet the requirement of at least 90 hours.

Moira Gibb will become joint-chief executive of Camden and Islington Councils in May next year, according to local reports.

But where will this leave the Social Work Reform Board, of which she is currently chair?

The reform board was set up to take forward the Social Work Task Force's recommendations, some of which could take years to implement.

With Gibb soon expected to oversee the running of two London authorities, will - and should - someone else pick up the reins of reform?

Sue White, chair of the Association of Professors of Social Work, comments on Community Care's story, "GSCC accuses Cafcass over 'dishonest spin' in conduct case":

"Whilst I have no details of the specifics apart from those I have read in the CC article, it is clear that this case is an example of what we need to fix, all of us together, managers, practitioners, journalists and academics.

"One cannot have safe practices whilst there are gagging clauses - that organisations want to control information flow in such a high blame environment is however completely understandable and the media need to take their fair share of responsibility (but not blame). If we look to industries with a good safety record (dangers of crude comparisons accepted, we are not an airline, but many of the principles do transfer) confidential reporting of problems is absolutely vital.

"We need a cultural shift in what are complex human services so we can start to seek intelligent remedies. It can be done, but disciplining employees for voicing opinions - if this indeed what happened and, as I say, I don't know - is not the way to go."

Read the original comment and join in the debate on CareSpace 

North Lanarkshire Council may cut more than 1,000 jobs, according to the BBC.

Click here for Community Care's interactive map of spending cuts across the UK

The British Association of Social Workers has had a busy few days. 

Chief executive Hilton Dawson has written to care services minister Paul Burstow expressing his disappointment that BASW was not invited to sit on the oversight group for the abolition of the General Social Care Council.

BASW is also teaming up with ITV's new breakfast programme, Daybreak, to do a survey of social workers.

And the organisation has written to every local authority in England urging them to undertake a "health check" of their social work departments and protect frontline services from cuts.

Picture by Rex Features

Home-Start Richmond, a charity that supports families with children under five by offering emotional and practical support, is taking on cases normally dealt with by social workers due to high vacancy rates, the Richmond and Twickenham Times reports.

They quote Community Care's exclusive research, which provides a breakdown of vacancy rates by local authority.