January 2011 Archives

(l-r: Hilton Dawson, chief executive of BASW - the College of Social Work; Professor Corinne May - Chahal, co-chair of the College of Social Work being developed alongside the Social Work Reform Board; and Professor David Green, vice chancellor of University of Worcester)

"This isn't a civil war, what we announced is a peaceful revolution," Hilton Dawson told a conference in London last week.

The leader of the British Association of Social Workers - now re-branded as BASW - the College of Social Work - has insisted he is willing to sit down and "work with" its rival organisation. (As the above photo, taken at a separate conference in Worcester on 27 January, is intended to illustrate.)

However, there is one caveat: the discussions will only take place providing the reform board's college "acknowledges the unethical behaviour that occurred last November during our negotiations with them".

Liverpool Council is cutting 1,500 jobs because of government spending cuts, the BBC has reported.

The deputy leader of the council, Paul Brant, is quoted as saying: "The way in which the government has divided up the cuts means cities like Liverpool... are facing a disproportionate share of the burden. In my view that is deeply unfair."

The council has not yet disclosed whether social care workers will be included in the redundancies. Check CommunityCare.co.uk for further details later.

The British Association of Social Workers has reportedly rejected an offer to resuscitate the negotiations with the College of Social Work.

The college offered to sit down with BASW and try to resolve the differences between the two organisations, using the Centre for Disputes Resolution as a third party mediator.

But BASW's UK chair, Fran Fuller, wrote to the co-chairs of the college today rejecting the offer, the college has said. Keep checking www.communitycare.co.uk for the latest updates.

 What is social work?

It's a Monty Python film, apparently. Life of Brian to be precise.

For this week, we in the Community Care office have heard no fewer than three references to the film (and it's only Wednesday).

First, a user on CareSpace compared the debate over whether to join the College of Social Work or BASW - The College of Social Work to the scene in Life of Brian in which a group called the People's Front of Judea insists it is not to be confused with the Judean People's Front or the Popular Front of Judea.

Then Richard Jones, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, wrote that adult social care was "in the same fearsome predicament" as John Cleese and Eric Idle at the end of the film. (They are strung up on crucifixes, singing 'Always look on the bright side of life'.)

Finally, a source, who shall remain nameless, theorised that if Professor Munro ditched all the bureaucracy surrounding children's social workers we could end up with a situation similar to the scene in which Brian tries to convince people he is not the messiah. Brian says, "Now, f--- off!" and a man replies, "How shall we f--- off, oh Lord?"

A tug of war has begun over the name "College of Social Work"

The British Association of Social Workers' rebranding campaign continues in full force. BASW representatives now answer the phone with "BASW - the College of Social Work" and Hilton Dawson was introduced on the BBC this morning as "chief executive of the College of Social Work".

For me, this makes writing about the two colleges increasingly difficult. We refer to organisations by the name they use, hence the college being developed under the reform programme for England is the College of Social Work, because it has not (yet) relinquished this title.

Yet BASW has insisted that its own college should not be referred to as a "rival" to the "official" college, because BASW owns the company name "College of Social Work".

The debate about the name symbolises the confusion of having two colleges. Can both really go ahead? And, if not, what is the solution? The "official" college, i.e. that being developed under the reform programme, is not going to fold anytime soon. It has the backing of ministers and a partnership with Unison to fall back on, no matter how contentious the latter partnership may be.

But, if history tells us anything, BASW is not going to go down without a fight either. It is a scrappy organisation, which fights strongly for what it believes in.

So the only option seems to be convergence, for want of a better word. This is what sector leaders are pushing for, but can it happen? Surely it would be near-impossible for BASW, after it has rebranded and launched an aggressive marketing campaign for its own vision of a college, to bow down to the College of Social Work. 

It feels like somebody (Moira Gibb?) needs to step in there and referee some crisis talks between the two organisations, both of which have a right to be heard. 

Sadly, amidst all this, social workers and other Community Care readers on CareSpace are getting increasingly narked off with the whole thing. 

As one user, Old Lag, puts it: "I hope both sides can step back from this breach and reflect on what it really looks like to the rest of us who just want a college.

"Get on with getting past this silly spat, negotiate like grown ups, merge the plans and give us the one college we want." 

Photo by David Hartley/Rex Features

After months of speculation, the British Association of Social Workers has announced it will go ahead with plans to set up a rival college of social work.

You could be forgiven for feeling confused. 

After Community Care reported in March last year that BASW planned to launch a "breakaway" college, BASW seemed to imply this wasn't the case.

Chief executive Hilton Dawson (pictured) told us in an interview in May 2010:

Community Care: There has been some confusion about whether BASW was proposing to establish a UK college separate to that being developed under the reform programme for England. Can you clear this up?

 Dawson: We want there to be a college of social work and we think it must be independent, led by social workers and potent enough to make a difference. That's all we've been trying to achieve through all of this... [see link above for full answer]

Community Care: Could that have involved setting up an alternative college?

Dawson: [In BASW's referendum] members were asked to vote on whether they supported "the development of an independent college of social work across the UK". That does not imply setting up something absolutely different.

Then, when we revealed last week that we had been told BASW was indeed intending to set up a college, the association refused to comment.

But now here we are, "BASW - the College of Social Work" is to be launched on Monday.

Reaction is already pouring in. We'll bring you a summary on Monday...

In the second week of our campaign to promote the Social Work Contract, Community Care and Unison have asked MPs to ensure social workers are paid or get time off in lieu (TOIL) for working additional hours.  

In 2009, Social Work Task Force survey found 64% of social workers worked extra hours. A seperate survey by Unison showed they worked an average of 1.9 hours overtime per week without pay or TOIL. 

Helga Pile, Unison's national officer for social work, said: "Heavy caseloads and high vacancy rates mean many social workers have little choice but to work late. And the stats back it up - 64% work extra hours. It's not as if they can say 'sorry, I've got to go', when it hits five o'clock if a vulnerable child is depending on them.  

"But social workers can't keep picking up the slack; this constant overloading is not sustainable and lots of people in the profession are facing burnout."

The Social Work Contract contains 10 points that will enable social workers to practice safely and effectively, one of which is giving social workers TOIL or pay for working additional hours.

Each week, Unison is writing to children's secretary Tim Loughton, care services minister Paul Burstow, shadow children's minister Sharon Hodgson and shadow care services minister Emily Thornberry, highlighting one part of the contract. Find out more

Welcome to Wolverhampton

There's a 50-50 chance Wolverhampton Council is about to axe either its director of adult or children's services, say local reports. If it does, it's highly likely a joint director will be appointed, which will see Wolverhampton follow in the footsteps of authorities like Oldham.

Oldham reorganised despite opposition from the then Labour government, which was particularly concerned that joint directorates might lose focus on the well-being of children.

But the coalition government has more of an "anything goes" attitude to the local provision of services, so this could turn into a growing trend.

Back in 2008, an Improvement and Development Agency report found joint directors reported reduced bureaucracy and a more family-centred approach. The question is, will Wolverhampton find this to be the case?

Pic by Lee Jordan on Twitter

Today sees the publication of the Health and Social Care Bill, which is expected to contain more details about the transfer of responsibility for social work regulation in England from the General Social Care Council to the Health Professions Council.

The latter organisation's chief executive Marc Seale hinted last Friday that the HPC will be renamed the HCPC - presumably the Health and Care Professions Council. This would not please the British Association of Social Workers, who called for it to be named the Social Work and Health Professions Council.

Read my colleague Mithran's blog on what the NHS shake-up means for social care

Pic of health secretary Andrew Lansley by Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

An insight on the Fighters Monsters blog about why there is a shortage of local authority practice placements for social work students in England:

Personally, I could have taken a student this year. I was asked to. I refused. ... I didn't think that it would be fair to have a student with all the uncertainty about where our jobs will lie. I expect this is fairly common within adult services at least.

The shortage was revealed in the General Social Care Council's annual social work education report.

Unison has launched a 10-week campaign to promote the social work contract produced jointly by Unison and Community Care, which sets out the minimum conditions social workers need to practise safely.

Each week, Unison is going to write to key stakeholders, including the children's minister, the Local Government Association and local leaders, to highlight part of the contract.

The focus this week, which marks 10 years since the sentencing of Victoria Climbie's killers, is on caseloads.

The Victoria Climbie Inquiry, set up in 2001 and published in 2003, found Victoria's social work team suffering from "bombardment" and "burnout", with caseload guidelines routinely breached. It made more than 100 recommendations, but Unison says working conditions are still impossible.

"Overwhelming caseloads, difficulty with recruitment and retention, lack of management support and an over-reliance on agency staff haunted social work departments when Victoria died," says Helga Pile, Unison's national officer for social work. "They remain huge barriers to the safety of children and vulnerable adults today."

Show your support for the social work contract by an online petition on the contract'>signing the online petition.  

A care home worker killed herself after she was wrongly accused of stealing medicine, an inquest heard yesterday.

Beverley Marie Kelly, 31, hanged herself six weeks after being suspended from her job as officer in charge at Phoenix House care home in Sandycroft, Wales.

She had been at the centre of allegations surrounding missing medication but police later said there was no case to answer, The Daily Mail reports.

Were senior managers right to come down so heavily on an employee, suspending her on the spot and calling a disciplinary meeting, without spending more time looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident? Add your comments below.

Judyth Kenworthy made a "conscious decision" not to inform police that two-year-old Sanam Navsarka had been locked in a cupboard, the General Social Care Council has found.

A witness, Jacqueline Peel, told the GSCC's conduct committee yesterday that she had reported the incident to Kenworthy on 1 May 2008.

Kenworthy, who was a family placement officer for Kirklees Council at the time, said she had not heard mention of a cupboard, possibly because of confusion in Peel's house on the morning in question. She claims this is why she did not mention the incident when making a statement to police on 23 June 2008. 

But the committee found Kenworthy had sought to play down her knowledge of the incident because was seeking to distance herself from blame.

"Kenworthy was given an opportunity to tell the police anything relevant to the investigation," the committee said. "She knew it (the cupboard incident) was relevant but made a conscious decision not to mention it."

The hearing continues.

Photo of Sanam Navsarka by Mark St George/Rex Features

Salford Council is sending its social workers on a "back to basics" training course after Ofsted rated its safeguarding services as inadequate twice in four years, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Apparently the refresher course will update social workers on any changes to practice that have arisen and new legislation. Which begs the question: why weren't these basics already covered in supervision and CPD?

If these knowledge and skills gaps are reflected elsewhere in the country, the profession may struggle to meet the Social Work Reform Board's proposed new national standards.

Pic by Voisin/Phanie/Rex Features

The BBC has an update from today's hearing into the conduct of Judyth Kenworthy, the family placement officer involved in the Sanam Navsarka abuse case.

Kenworthy has admitted failing to inform her manager, a social worker or Kirklees Council's duty and assessment team that Sanam was being physically abused, the BBC reports. And she agreed that, as a result of her actions, no measures were taken to safeguard the two-year-old.

Kenworthy also admitted withholding information when she gave a statement to police, but denies the allegation that the carer warned her that Sanam had been locked in a cupboard.

The General Social Care Council's hearing continues.

A social worker faces misconduct charges this week following the death in 2008 of two-year-old toddler Sanam Navsarka, who was known to Kirklees Council's look-after children services.

Sanam was found dead at her home in May 2008 after suffering more than 100 injuries. In February 2009, Sanam's mother, Zahbeena Navsarka, was jailed for nine years for her daughter's manslaughter. Navsarka's partner, Subhan Anwar, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years for murder.

A serious case review published in 2009 found Sanam's death may have been prevented if not for the failure of the council's looked-after children staff to refer concerns received four weeks before her death to child protection colleagues.

The General Social Care Council is investigating an allegation that Judyth Kenworthy, who was a family placement officer for Kirklees Council at the time, failed to act upon or pass on important information that she had received.

Kenworthy is also accused of withholding information in a statement to police.

• In another hearing at the GSCC this week, a social worker who was struck off in October for a string of alleged offences, including failing to report an allegation of abuse, has a chance to clear her name.

The First-tier (Care Standards) Tribunal ordered the GSCC to re-hear the case of Rosalind Shaw, after it emerged Shaw's application to adjourn the original hearing because her mother was ill had been rejected.

The new hearing begins today and is expected to conclude on 17 January.

John McCallister, MLA and deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, is spending today with the South Eastern HSC Trust's child protection team in County Down, Northern Ireland, to gain a better understanding of the pressures and demands facing social work staff.

The visit was arranged by the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers.

Explaining why the trust welcomed this opportunity, Kate Thompson, director of children's services and executive director of social work, said: "It's important that our political representatives understand the complexity of the job, and the skills and compassion needed to ensure that children and families are safe."

Community Care arranged a series of visits by MPs to social work teams in Scotland and England in 2010:

Day the MP dropped into Warwickshire social services

MPs go on fact-finding visits to social work departments

Photo of John McCallister by Rex Features

Social workers are suffering from a "dearth" of direct training on child poverty issues, the Children's Workforce Development Council has found. And the children's workforce does not readily identify child poverty as a priority issue, according to the review.

It recommends therefore that the CWDC should take a look its own practice guidance, standards and training programmes to ensure that child poverty is explicitly addressed.

Anyone already suffering from (or desperately trying to avoid) the January blues should look away now.

The GMB has issued a fresh warning of 200,000 council job losses in England. But those looking for a job may struggle, because figures released yesterday show the number of public sector job vacancies is shrinking at a remarkable rate.

According to Richard Exell of the TUC, the Reed Job Index figures show that the number of job opportunities across all sectors fell in December, but the public sector did much worse than the average with fewer than half as many vacancies as there had been 12 months previously.

Does anyone have any good news?

Pic by Tony Kyriacou/Rex Features

South Lanarkshire employee Charles Devlin has become the latest in a string of social workers to be sanctioned for forwarding "offensive" e-mails, including one about Gary Glitter.