February 2011 Archives

BASW - The College of Social Work has clarified some of the issues surrounding its proposed trade union arm, The Social Workers Union, after CareSpace users raised a number of questions about how the project would work as part of a long-running thread on the two-college issue. 

BASW - The College of Social Work provided the following information after Community Care put CareSpace users' questions to the organisation:

Next steps - The launch of the union is subject to a ballot of BASW - The College of Social Work members. "The College of Social Work is driven by its members and members will decide if we are to pursue this by voting at our AGM on 26 May."

Eligibility - "Any person who is or seeks to be a qualified social worker in the UK is eligible to be a member of the union."

Much as I loathe doing this on a Friday afternoon, here is a quick round up of the job cuts and other budget proposal stories of the day:

Unions in Southampton have voted against the council's proposals to cut pay for all staff earning more than £17,500. Unison and Unite said they would ballot members on industrial action if the council imposed the cuts by dismissing the entire workforce and re-employing them under new terms and conditions.

Meanwhile Northamptonshire Council has approved proposals to cut 900 jobs at as part of a £69m package of budget savings, the BBC reports. Councillors in Oldham have also agreed proposals to cut 800 jobs.

Finally, Moira Gibb, chief executive of Camden Council, told The Guardian today that she was "shocked" by the extent of the cuts having to be made. Around 1,000 jobs are expected to go in Camden and Gibb said no service was sacrosanct, even frontline social work.

Photo by Rex Features

...and it's a Friday too, so even more reason to go home on time. A survey by the TUC, released to coincide with Work Your Proper Hours Day, found one in five people, or more than 5m people - a record high - worked unpaid overtime on a regular basis last year. This was worth £28.9 billion to the economy, and public sector workers were more likely to work longer hours.

This follows Community Care's exclusive pay and conditions survey with Unison in December 2010, which found 60% of social care professionals work more than 40 hours per week.

So, no excuses - buy a Crunchie, get that Friday feeling, and go home on time on Work Your Proper Hours Day.

The College of Social Work has responded to BASW - the College of Social Work's latest announcement that it will go ahead with plans to create a "single college".

Maurice Bates (right), interim co-chair of the College of Social Work, hosted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, said no agreement had been reached on how the two organisations would work together. A statement from the SCIE-hosted college said the two organisations agreed earlier this month to continue discussing how this would be done, but no decisions had yet been taken.

Bates added: "We look forward to our discussions with BASW about creating a single college. And, if this is to happen, we must work together and not in isolation."

Guidance has been produced for directors on how to lead children's services at a time of savage budget cuts and staff redundancies.

The report*, published today by the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services, includes a chapter on leading in a time of "shock", e.g. policy and funding changes or a high-profile child protection case.

It also looks at the challenges facing directors of children's services in the short and long term, including the need to be austerity ready on 1 April and future mergers of children's and adult services.

Visit www.communitycare.co.uk/workforce tomorrow to read our latest feature on leadership in social care.

*Resourceful leadership: how directors of children's services improve outcomes for children

Just thought I'd flag up the fact that the Health Professions Council has published a first draft of the national standards of proficiency for social workers on its website (pages 7-11 of the PDF).

Newly qualified social workers in England will have to meet these standards before being allowed on to the register when it is taken over by the HPC next year, so it's worth a read if you're a social work student.

A final draft will be open to public consultation in July. Until then, feel free to comment below or join in the debate on CareSpace.

Liz McSheehy is stepping down as director of the National Skills Academy for Social Care, two years after taking up the post.

A spokesperson for the NSA said McSheehy had successfully launched the NSA and was ready to move on to pastures new.

McSheehy was brought in to set up and launch the NSA in 2009. On her appointment, she promised to drive up standards through workforce development and speak up for the adult care sector in England.

In September last year, she revealed she was bringing forward plans to make the NSA self-funding through employer membership fees in order to safeguard its future.

The NSA officially launched its membership scheme yesterday, just before the news about McSheehy's departure broke. 

Some social workers are losing up to £6,000 a year as a result of job reviews under single status agreements, BASW - the College of Social Work reports today.

Dave Allen, a senior office in BASW's advice and representation team, said social workers were living in a "climate of fear", terrified of losing their jobs.

He said the team was dealing with a rising number of calls from worried social workers, particularly those negatively affected by job reviews or those losing their car allowance.

His comments come days after Local Government Employers announced a pay freeze for staff including social workers, leading one Community Care editor to wonder whether improving social work is truly a government priority, as ministers claim.

Perhaps more worryingly, Southampton Council has approved plans to slash pay by around £1,300 for social workers (earning £30,000).

This, the council says, will save hundreds of jobs. But unions are outraged, claiming savings could be found elsewhere. Union officials expect members to vote against the proposals, but the council can introduce the changes by dismissing staff and making them re-apply for their jobs. This would be an aggressive move, but it is one that is becoming increasingly prevalent.

And so it seems war has indeed been declared on social workers' pay.

Are you going to next month's protest against cuts to public services? Find out more

Photo by Tony Kyriacou/Rex Features

The Prime Minister has vowed to end the "state monopoly" of public services and put control back in the hands of professionals and the public.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron says the system needs a "complete change" in order to bring cancer survival rates and other key indicators into line with comparable countries.  

The government's White Paper on Public Service Reform, due to be published shortly, will set out plans in more detail for opening up services to a bigger range of providers.

Although Cameron does not directly mention any reforms to social care provision in the Telegraph article, he does reflect on the experience of supporting his son, Ivan, who died in 2009 aged six.

"Though I was always so grateful for the tremendous care my eldest son received, I never understood why local authorities had more control over the budget for his care than Samantha and I did," he writes.

BASW has responded to my previous post about the future of a UK-wide college: 

"We welcome Lily Kerr to her role as Chair of NISCC (Northern Ireland Social Care Council) and look forward to her being part of the discussions that the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers has been having about the development of a college with many people from the ground up in Northern Ireland.

"BASW Cymru has played an active role in the Wales Social Work Task Group and is relieved that the Welsh assembly doesn't see a role for itself in the development of a college of social work; it is most unusual for government to be concerned with the establishment of professional bodies.

"Both politicians and senior officials in Wales are well aware of our intention to develop a college of social work.

"The Scottish Association of Social Workers is also working with all partners in Scotland on a similar agenda. We are working hard to support the development of a UK college of social work."

Several hundreds of students and staff marched against cuts at Glasgow University yesterday after it was announced that some courses, including social work, could be axed or merged.

There has also been high profile opposition from the playwright Tom Stoppard to the proposals, which would also affect some language courses and nursing.

The university proposes to make the cuts as part of a bid to save £20m by 2012-13. A final decision will be taken in May after a consultation.

Interestingly, The Herald argues that there is rationale for cutting subjects such as social work, because equivalent courses are available elsewhere in the city.

But the paper warns this should not happen without ensuring that the overall number of places remains adequate for the country's needs.

Photo by Joe Pepler/Rex Features

Spare a thought for the General Social Care Council's staff. Not only are they dealing with the announcement that the GSCC is being scrapped as of next April, but they also have to manage tens of thousands of applications from social workers looking to renew their registration.

The regulator received no fewer than 9,000 renewal applications in January and expects thousands more this month. Teams are working at full capacity and the GSCC has hired temporary staff to make sure the process runs smoothly.

Currently, despite the high volume, applications are still being processed within the normal time of three weeks. But the processing time is expected to increase this month; see the GSCC's website for more info.

Social workers are required to renew their registration with the GSCC every three years. Your renewal forms must reach the regulator before your registration expires, or you could be removed from the register.

Finally, a quick message from Gail Gibson, the GSCC's head of registration:

"If you have completed your form and sent it to us on time, and your name continues to show on our register, you are absolutely fine to continue working. We will notify you that we have received your application, but please don't panic if you do not hear from us immediately. We are dealing with a very large number of applications and will contact you as quickly as possible."

Photo by Chris Robbins/Mood Board/Rex Features

The British Association of Social Workers' dream of a UK-wide college of social work looks to be in tatters today, after the Welsh assembly ruled out the idea in its framework for sustainable social services.

The assembly said it wanted to boost the esteem in which social work is held in the public eye, but did not believe that this required a commitment to the creation of any new institution.

"Therefore we are not, as a government, minded at this point to develop a national college of social work in Wales," it stated.

In an interview with Community Care this week, Lily Kerr, the recently-appointed chair of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, said a college of social work was not currently on the cards there either (the full interview will be published in the magazine and online next week).

And sources in Scotland have told me there is not much appetite for a college, at least among sector leaders. Which begs the question - not for the first time - is social work simply too devolved, too political, to have a UK-wide college?

Photo of the Welsh assembly building by James Brittain/View Pictures/Rex Features

As you may have noticed from my not-so-subtle plugs on this blog, Community Care is running a joint campaign with Unison to highlight our Social Work Contract, which outlines the minimum conditions we think social workers need to practice safely and effectively.

To help us drive home the message that urgent action is needed to tackle the problems social workers are facing, we need to be able to show how bad things really are. To that end, we have created this short survey on supervision, caseloads and other working conditions.

Please take the time to fill in the 10 questions by the end of Feb, and we'll use the results to badger politicians, employers and other leaders in the social work sector. All your details will be confidential (no names) although we do ask you to tell us which local authority you work for, so we can map out which councils have been hardest hit.

Olive branch extended by both colleges

The College of Social Work and BASW - the College of Social work have just issued a joint statement announcing that they met today to discuss how to resolve their differences and establish a single college.

Both sides said it was a positive meeting and further discussions will take place soon.

But in the meantime, they will continue to operate as two separate colleges.

Photo by Voisin/Phanie/Rex Features

Ken Terry, former member of the British Association of Social Worker's council, sets out his views on the ongoing dispute between BASW and the College of Social Work.

"I have until now refrained from making public my views on the current conflict between BASW and the [College of Social Work*]. But following the views expressed by the various "players" and discussions I have had recently with long-standing members of BASW, I feel I must speak out before more damage is done to our profession.

"Firstly, the decision of the interim board of the [College of Social Work] to conclude an agreement with Unison in the midst of merger talks with BASW was naive and understandably provoked a strong response from BASW's council.

"Secondly, the decision by BASW's council to immediately launch its own college without waiting for the approval of BASW members at our Annual General Meeting (in May) was an overreaction.

"And finally, the registering of various domain names claiming sole title to the use of "College of Social Work" is a needless distraction.

"What then is the way forward? For the time being, it seems there is no possibility of BASW merging with the college. The choices are to seek an arrangement with the college, preferably as a partnership or possibly by agreeing a memorandum of understanding with seats [for BASW representatives] on the interim board, keeping open the option of a merger eventually.

"In the meantime, they could reach an agreement on joint membership for those members who want it. This could include a joint membership for BASW members who are already members of Unison. BASW's advice and representation service could be expanded using joint funding from Unison and BASW; it could be legally part of Unison but remain based in BASW HQ."

What do you think? Join in the debate on CareSpace

* The name "College of Social Work" here refers to the college being developed under the reform programme in England. There is an ongoing legal dispute over who has the right to use this title. 

Social care is littered with tongue-twisting acronyms. There's Nagalro, the CHRE is about to be renamed the PSAHSC, and let's not forget the almost unpronounceable SCSWIS*. But surely the prize for the most confusing series of acronyms must now go to the British Association of Social Workers.

For we recently saw the birth of BASW - the College of Social Work, which we in the office were considering shortening to BASW - CoSW. But BASW has started shortening it to BASW/CoSW, which sounds a bit like it's an either-or option, but we'll go with it.

In addition to this, BASW Scotland has been rebranded as the Scottish Association of Social Work or SASW (part of BASW). If BASW goes ahead with the idea of developing its own trade union arm, are we going to have BASW/CoSW and BUSW, SASW (part of BASW), NIASW (part of BASW) and BASW Cymru?

* Nagalro: the National Association of Guardians Ad Litem and Reporting Officers, CHRE: the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, PSAHSC: Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, SCSWIS: Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland.

A further three universities have reportedly banned BASW - the College of Social Work from hosting promotional events on campus.

Bedfordshire, Salford and the University of the West of England have followed Northumbria's lead and rejected BASW - CoSW's request to host an event for students, according to the organisation.

Northumbria said it wished to "remain impartial" to the ongoing dispute between the BASW college and the other college being developed under the reform programme in England.

One social work student  (also a BASW - CoSW member) said on Twitter that it was "shameful", but another commentator suggested BASW - the CoSW was taking advantage of the publicity generated by the universities' decision.

What do others think? 

Photo by Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Rex Features

Northumbria University has reportedly refused to host a BASW - the College of Social Work event today, claiming it doesn't want to get involved in the ongoing college dispute.

The meeting was set up to give students and social workers an opportunity to discuss BASW's decision to rebrand as BASW - the College of Social Work as of 21 January.

But university bosses decided not to host it on campus, preferring instead to "remain impartial" to the ongoing dispute between BASW and the college being developed under the social work reform programme in England over who has the right to use the "College of Social Work" name.

The university said it would facilitate future BASW meetings, on the proviso that issues relating to the dispute were not discussed.

Dawson, who is chief executive of BASW - the College of Social Work, said he was "astounded" by the decision: "I think it's a major issue of academic importance and we're astounded a university which trains a lot of social workers is treating an organisation which has 13,000 members as if we're hate preachers, holocaust deniers or people who should be banned from campus," he told local paper, The Journal.

Photo of Northumbria University by Jeff Blackler/Rex Features

There have now been more than 350 posts to the college of social work debate.

This is the view from Wordle, the word cloud tool, which reveals the words used most frequently.

Graham Stuart MP tabled the EDM at the Houses of Parliament

When the British Association of Social Workers wrote to members explaining why it was rebranding as BASW - the College of Social Work, it asked them to show their support by encouraging local MPs to sign an early day motion.

And so they duly did - well, at least 19 of them. For that is how many MPs have signed the EDM since it was tabled on 27 January.

But one has to wonder whether all of these MPs understand what it is they're signing.

For, if you read the EDM closely, it could arguably be interpreted as referring to the other college of social work, i.e. the one being developed under the reform programme in England.

The motion says:

"That this House recognises the vital role of social work in protecting, helping and empowering children and adults in vulnerable situations at critical times in their lives; notes the 2009 Social Work Taskforce recommendation for the creation of an independent national college of social work, developed and led by social workers; supports the establishment of a College of Social Work which is independent of Government, led by and accountable to social workers and strong enough to influence the development of the profession; and therefore calls on the Government to support the establishment of such a college, without public subsidy, delivering a truly independent voice for the social work profession."

Most of these attributes could be applied to either college. The key point, I'm sure BASW - the College of Social Work would argue, is that this EDM calls for a college "without public subsidy".

But the other college could argue that, although it has received seed funding to cover its start-up costs, it will move to a membership-funded model within the next year or so.

So, depending on who you listen to, this vision of a college could refer to either one. Confused? Join in the ever-fascinating CareSpace debate about the two colleges.

Photo by Rod Mclean/The Travel Library/Rex Features

Unite has announced it will ballot members who work for Manchester Council on whether they wish to take industrial action over the authority's plans to axe more than 2,000 jobs.

The union said the plans could affect up to 4,000 out of the 10,000 strong workforce, because many employees work part-time. Manchester's social workers are being offered voluntary redundancy as part of the proposals, which will come into effect by the end of March.

Manchester needs to save £110m in 2011-12, but said it wanted to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Meanwhile Surrey Council has confirmed it will cut 650 posts over the next four years. It is not yet known whether social workers will be affected.

Deputy leader of the council, David Hodge, said: "Our priority is to plan ahead, retrain and redeploy staff wherever possible to minimise redundancies."

• Learn more about councils cutting social care spending in our cuts map

Photo by Rex Features

What would you do if you discovered a social work colleague was working as a lapdancer in their spare time? What action would you take if a social worker got engaged to a former service user?

Test your awareness of professional boundaries in this interactive quiz, created by Peter Nelson from Sheffield Hallam University, on behalf of Community Care.

Professional boundaries is just one of many social work standards being explored in our special report on the Social Work Reform Board's professional capabilities framework, which sets out what is expected of social workers at every stage of their careers. 

• Please note: users of Internet Explorer may experience difficulties in viewing the embedded quiz. Try using another browser, e.g. Firefox, or access the quiz via Quibblo.

The British Association of Social Worker's Scotland branch is re-branding as the Scottish Association of Social Work, to reflect the country's unique social work system.

Links between the Scottish branch and the newly-launched BASW - the College of Social Work will remain strong, according to the association.

This follows a similar development last year in Northern Ireland, where BASW launched the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers.

In a guest post for the Social Work Blog, Roger Hargreaves describes the chequered past of the British Association of Social Workers, and why its latest decision to launch a rival college for the profession may be a step too far.

I joined the British Association of Social Workers in 1973 as member number 16,352, and served during the national social work strike of 1979.

The strike succeeded in its aim of raising the then abysmal levels of pay, but left deep scars which have afflicted the profession ever since.  The profession had already been divided by BASW's unwillingness, until 1977, to admit unqualified social workers as full members, but the strike further divided it into pro- and anti-strike camps, the former gravitating towards NALGO, the latter towards BASW.  Most, however, chose NALGO, and BASW's expansion, which up to then had been steady, was halted.  In an attempt to cater for those anti-strikers who still wanted to be in a trade union, it launched the British Union of Social Workers, but this was torpedoed by the TUC as it would have competed with NALGO.