October 2010 Archives

Speculation is mounting about the impact of job losses in Kent, after the council confirmed that up to 1,500 posts could be axed.

The authority is consulting on plans to restructure in an attempt to plug its £340m budget deficit.

Under the proposals, more services could be delivered through outside contractors with voluntary and community groups. A "Big Society Fund" is also proposed to provide start up cash for social enterprises, according to local reports.

But Community Care understands Kent does not plan to follow Suffolk down the route to becoming a "virtual council", outsourcing the majority of its services.

It is too early to know how many job losses could affect social services, although we do know that Kent's children's services are to be separated from the education department as part of the proposed reorganisation.

More details are expected early next year. 

Social workers may not be surprised to hear that stress has been fingered as the main cause of long-term absence in the public sector.

Public sector employees took three more sick days off on average last year than those in the private sector, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

More than one in three employers said the amount of time workers took off due to stress had increased.

A similar number noted an increase in reported mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression - a noticeable rise since the previous survey, when one-fifth reported an increase.

Stress and burnout are perennial problems for social workers. Visit Community Care's special report on stress for tips on how to survive the pressures of a demanding job.

Social workers are in the business of building up relationships with service users based on empathy and respect, but what happens when it's time to close a case or pass it on? Take part in our quick-fire quiz to test your skills and awareness around ending a working relationship with a service user. NB. This quiz works best in the Firefox internet browser. If you have trouble viewing it click here. You can find read more about the ethical dilemmas faced by social workers as they stop working with service users in our feature "how to say goodbye".

The government's failure to ring-fence social work and social care funding has provoked angry reactions from the British Association of Social Workers and trade union Aspect.

Documents released by the government show adult social care will receive an additional £1.4bn in 2011-12, £1.9bn in 2012-13, £2.2bn in 2013-14 and £2.1bn in 2014-15 above 2010-11 funding levels.

But this money will not be ring-fenced, it has emerged.

As a result, the 28% cuts to local authority budgets over the next four years, announced in today's comprehensive spending review, could have "massive implications" for social work services, BASW said.

Aspect's Roger Kline said it was "inevitable" the funding would be used to "prop up" other council services facing cuts.

He added: "It is outrageous that social services are bearing such a large cost of the failure of the bankers who appear to be escaping almost scot free."

Full coverage of the spending review

The comprehensive spending review is nearly upon us. Hurrah, I hear you cry.

Community Care will provide live coverage starting at 12:30pm, including analysis of what the review means for social care.

Follow our live coverage and join in the debate on CareSpace.

Picture by wwarby

Care worker Tracy Dawber has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a five-month-old baby and allowing her boyfriend to take photographs of the abuse on his mobile phone, the Daily Mail, BBC and Mirror report.

Dawber was the fifth person linked to a paedophile ring involving nursery worker Vanessa George, who was jailed last year. It is difficult to know how crimes like these could or should be prevented.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme, for example, would not have caught George or Dawber, because neither woman had a history of abuse.

"If one were a predatory paedophile with a traceable history (which many do not have), one would certainly not seek to be vetted," pointed out Sue White, professor of social work at the University of Lancaster, and David Wastell, professor of information systems at Nottingham University Business School, in a report by the Manifesto Club in June.

Earlier this year, the coalition government announced its intention to drastically remodel the Vetting and Barring Scheme and put plans for a phased introduction of the scheme on hold.

White and Wastell argue that frontline services are better at spotting potential child abusers. The question is, what impact will impending cuts have on their ability to do so?

Community Care's guide to the Vetting and Barring Scheme 

The British Association of Social Workers has thrown its full backing behind the idea of a chief social worker in England - but how would the role differ from that of chair of the College of Social Work?

The answer is simple enough. Other professions have a chief officer at their helm; the Department of Health, for example, has a chief nursing officer and chief medical officer. They were appointed to report to and advise the government on health-related matters - and a chief social worker would do the same for social work.

In parallel, the interim co-chairs and, in time, the newly-elected chair of the College of Social Work will champion the profession and oversee the development and dissemination of best practice and the maintenance of professional standards.

The College of Social Work's development group says there is a strong case for a chief social worker and says the interim board will consider it when appointed (keep an eye on Community Care for news of who's on the board - coming soon).

The Conservatives have long supported the concept of a chief social worker, mooting it at a social work commission back in 2007. Tim Loughton cemented this in his policy document, Child Protection: back to the frontline, in February 2010, when the (then shadow) children's minister said:

"...Concomitant with raising the bar amongst professionals must be restoring public confidence.

"That is what we have put forward the proposal for a chief social worker who can be the public face of the profession and liaise between the media, the frontline and the Secretary of State.

Police in Sutton, south London, are urging elderly residents to keep out unknown and unexpected callers after two elderly residents were robbed by thieves pretending to be social workers, the local Guardian reports.

A spokesperson for Sutton's social services said staff would always book an appointment before a home visit.

In other news, Doncaster Council is holding a children's social care recruitment evening today, presumably to try and counter the high staff turnover identified by the Audit Commission in April.

Picture by ell brown

Demand is growing for compulsory training for social workers on substance misuse amid concern that families receive inadequate support to overcome drugs and alcohol. How much do you know about illegal drugs? Can you spot the signs of substance misuse?

Test your awareness of drugs paraphernalia and the effects of drugs on people's appearance and behaviour with Community Care's drugs quiz.

A care worker has been given a 12-month suspended prison sentence for stealing £700 from a 70-year-old woman with speech and mobility difficulties, the Hertfordshire Mercury reports.

Julia Fretton, 41, would take the woman to the bank to withdraw money for her day-to-day needs. The cash was then logged into a book and kept in a safe.

But just before Fretton took a three-week holiday in August, £700 was withdrawn and never accounted for. Read more

The National Skills Academy for Social Care is looking for people training or working in adult social care to take part in next year's Worldskills UK Caring Competition.

Successful applicants will have to compete in regional heats before proceeding to a final, which was held this year in London. Click here for more on this year's final.

Government ministers are rumoured to be preparing a 'bonfire of the quangos' in the comprehensive spending review, due out on 20 October. National bodies supporting the social care sector are facing a shake-up, and Community Care has launched an online survey inviting our readers to have your say on which ones should be scrapped and which should be saved.

Please take two minutes to share your views.

More social workers are being cleared of misconduct by the General Social Care Council than ever before, according to an investigation by The British Association of Social Workers.

Since January, 125 cases have been heard by the regulator, of which 17 (13%) have ended in a finding of no misconduct or the allegations could not be proved.

In comparison, during the GSCC's first five years of operation just nine out of more than 200 registrants (around 4.5%) were cleared of wrongdoing or had their case thrown out, according to BASW.

Politicians love to extol the virtues of public service workers but social care workers rarely, if ever, feature in their platitudes.

So I was watching David Cameron's speech at the Conservative party conference with some trepidation when he faithfully began trotting out the usual suspects.

"I know the British people and they are not passengers - they are drivers," he gushed, before moving on to praise the "courage of our soldiers...the spirit of our entrepreneurs...the patience of our teachers...the dedication of our doctors..." - and FINALLY - "the compassion of our care workers".

So care workers may still be at the bottom of the pecking order of public service workers, but at least they've made it onto the list! Well done Prime Minister, for recognising the significance of the country's 2m workers and their contribution to our economy and society. Let's hope that the government starts to reflect this in its policies.

A mother of four who attacked two social workers and ripped hair from their heads has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service and told to pay her victims £150 each in compensation, the Edinburgh Evening News reports.

Community Care's special report into violence against social care staff in May found a shocking nine out of 10 social workers have suffered abuse, assaults and threats while at work.

Seven in 10 child protection social workers say their work has caused them "emotional or mental instability", with 45% of these admitting to having taken time off work as a result, according to a survey by the British Association of Social Workers.

That's one of the reasons why we are asking people to sign our "Social Work Contract", to demand better working conditions for social workers.

Cabinet office minister Francis Maude has invited more public sector workers to set up their own mutuals to deliver services themselves.

Maude claims there has been much interest among workers in "spinning themselves out" of the public sector and pointed to "huge pent up frustration at the culture of top-down, target-driven, bureaucratic control".

He said it would allow services to "deliver much more, for much less."

Maude said: "We think this will unleash a wave of innovation. We already have 10 pathfinders launched and we've been inundated with further requests.

"The feedback so far has been terrific. One of our pathfinders, Leicester Homeless Healthcare, a fantastic group doing so much for the homeless people in their area, wrote to my team this week telling us that this opportunity is already starting to make an impact."

Maude added that in relation to Big Society, the government is creating a Big Society Bank, which is training "community organisers" and involving more voluntary and social enterprises in public service provision.

On the National Citizens Service, which will see young people becoming involved in "constructive social action", Maude said there will be 10,000 places on a pilot scheme next year and 30,000 places for the following year.