Recently in social workers Category

Are you thinking if joining the College of Social Work

By Simeon Brody, community editor, on January 12, 2012 4:33 PM | No Comments

The College of Social Work was launched last week and there are probably lots of social workers out there pondering whether to join it.

If you are one of those social workers and need a bit of help, Mithran Samuel has written an analysis of some of the relevant issues.

And he has put together a handy table comparing the benefits and costs of the College, BASW and Unison.

Helpline won't be enough to protect social care whistleblowers

By Mithran Samuel, adults' editor, on January 6, 2012 3:07 PM | No Comments

As the government launches a national social care whistleblowing helpline, Roger Kline argues that it needs to do much more to ensure social care staff can safely raise concerns about problems at work.

The repeated scandals in health and social care demonstrate the need for staff to be able to raise concerns effectively without fear of victimisation. So, on the face of it, the launch of the new health and social care whistleblowing helpline ought to be welcomed.

Although launched with a flurry of publicity by an excited Andrew Lansley, this may not be the great step forward he claims it will be. Whistleblowing helplines can be very useful as the one previously run for the NHS alone showed.

In the wake of repeated scandals in the care of the elderly and ahead of the publication of the report of the public inquiry into the Mid-Staffordshire Hospital catastrophe, Lansley will need to demonstrate that this expanded helpline is just one part of a larger sustained effort to change the culture of both health and social care.

The effort needs to start by acknowledging the scale of the problem. Many staff still do not raise concerns because of a fear of the consequences of doing so. Despite whistleblowing policies galore, the history of social care whistleblowers is largely one of their victimisation. If social worker Nevres Kemal had been listened to (instead of being harassed out of her job) in Haringey then Baby Peter's death might have been prevented. Liz Davies (Islington care homes), Susan Machin (social worker at Ashworth secure hospital), Deborah Rees (Swindon Council) Simon Bellwood (Jersey) - a roll call of honour for the profession but a shameful indictment of the risks involved in some, possibly many, employers.

Public Concern at Work, the independent whistle-blowing experts, showed nearly two years ago the "systemic deficiencies that prevent care workers from speaking up effectively to protect vulnerable adults". They found that in half of all cases where other staff knew about a risk, they were too scared to speak up while 40% of whistleblowers in social care said their concerns were initially dismissed by managers.

General Social Care Council research in 2009 showed that almost half of frontline social workers who had attempted to blow the whistle about poor practice by colleagues or workplace problems said their employer failed to address their concerns. Yet all social workers are required by their code of practice to: use "established processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice"; to bring "to the attention of your employer or the appropriate authority resource or operational difficulties that might get in the way of the delivery of safe care"; and to "[inform] your employer or an appropriate authority where the practice of colleagues may be unsafe or adversely affecting standards of care".

If Lansley and his cabinet colleagues are serious about changing the culture in social work, they could start by ensuring every social care employer implements the Social Work Reform Board employment standards. They could regulate social care assistants, who provide much frontline care, and ensure they are fairly managed and treated. They could strengthen the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which is supposed to protect whistle-blowers and ensure that employers who victimise whistleblowers are held to account. They could stop the haemorrhaging of resources which makes whistleblowing both more necessary and more dangerous for staff.

Above all we need to move to a presumption that staff are expected to, and supported to, raise concerns without there ever being a need to whistleblow. Good employers welcome and promote whistleblowers instead of shooting the messenger.

The new helpline is welcome if it assists in that work, is sufficiently resourced and has the right expertise. Time will tell.

Roger Kline is social care spokesperson for Aspect, the children's services union, and has written extensively on whistleblowing

Developing Leadership in Social Work and Social Care

By Simeon Brody, community editor, on November 7, 2011 3:35 PM | No Comments

by Claudia Megele, a social worker and service director of A Sense Of Self, which offers support groups, psychotherapy and counselling services in London.

Professionals and Twitteratis came together once again last Tuesday for Social Work/SocialCare and Media Network's live Twitter debate to discuss developing leadership in social work and social care.

There were some thoughtful opinion pieces published ahead of the debate on the @SWSCmedia blog to raise relevant issues and to provide some content and context for discussion.

The first question for the evening was: "How can we define and develop leadership in social work and social Care?" which meant that participants had to jump right-into-the-deep-end.

The answers ranged from defining the differences between managers and leaders to lamenting lack of leadership in practice. Some felt that in the current climate, leadership was equated with meeting organisational benchmarks and management targets.

The debate was fast paced and moved through several issues, but its latter part was dedicated to pathways and examples of how social workers and social care practitioners could develop leadership in their practice.

Again many excellent views and suggestions were raised by participants and some important similarities were noted between social work and allied professions such as nursing, as expressed by Anne Cooper the National Clinical Lead for the Department of Health Informatics Directorate.

It was good to see the high hopes and spirit of practitioners who in spite of the challenges posed by the current difficult climate of budgetary cuts and increasing demands, were dedicated and enthusiastic about developing their leadership capabilities and skills. However, there was also concern about availability of the necessary guidance, support and resources for them to do so.

Overall it was a very lively, intense, exciting, and rich debate as evidenced by Dan Slee's tweet (Senior Press and Publicity Officer Walsall Council) which said: 'Wow. Impressed at the "very" active chat hashtag on social care organised by @SWSCmedia #SWSCmedia...'

So, join us on 15 November at 8:00 to 9:00 PM @SWSCmedia for our next debate focused on "supervision" and in the meantime visit our blog for a summary of our last Twitter debate.

Also don't forget to tell us know why you love @SWSCmedia debates and we'll choose the Twitteratis with the best answers as our Twitter Ambassadors.

Finally, we thank our sponsors Goldsmith University of London, The Open University, and The University of East London as well as our media partner Community Care for their support.

Social workers to be charged £700 a year to park at work

By Simeon Brody, community editor, on October 28, 2011 11:25 AM | No Comments

We reported yesterday that Doncaster Council is offering employees a choice between a 4% pay cut and losing their job, according to Unison.

And the cherry on the cake for council workers appears to be a plan to charge them £700 a year for parking, even when their car is used for essential work business.

Social workers would clearly fall into this category as they often have to use their cars to visit clients.

The issue has prompted a debate on CareSpace with some suggesting the proposed charges are unjustifiable when using a car is part of the terms and conditions of your employment.

But others have suggested free parking at work is a perk and not a right.

Where do you stand? Is free parking a right or a perk for social workers? Has your local authority started charging for parking or has it drawn up plans to do so? How would you react if they did so? Would you start getting the bus instead and hand back some of your cases because you didn't have the time to make so many visits?

Do leave a comment and complete our mini poll below.

Online Surveys & Market Research

(Pic: Arthur Chapman on Flickr)

Social workers: when was your last supervision?

By Simeon Brody, community editor, on October 24, 2011 4:35 PM | 1 Comment

Social workers often say that they don't get regular enough supervision. But managers have been heard to claim that they offer plenty of supervision. Who is right? There's only one way to find out.... Fight! Fight! Fight!... On second thoughts perhaps just fill in our poll instead...

Online Surveys & Market Research

Why Southampton social care workers' 'smart strikes' aren't working

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 10, 2011 10:49 AM | No Comments

There's a very insightful piece on the Guardian today about why the strikes in Southampton aren't making the council change direction on pay cuts.

Gregor Gall writes:

"In the case of Southampton, the Unison and Unite unions have not been able to create a Wisconsin-type of situation because the alliance between the residents and unions cannot be magicked out of thin air. These alliances need to be built before they are called upon in times of industrial disputes."

I was thinking something similar myself the other day when I proposed a slightly different solution to the ones we've seen discussed so far.

The council and unions are due to meet this Wednesday and the council is expected to come to the table with a fresh set of proposals.

Breaking down mental health barriers to social care jobs

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 10, 2011 10:28 AM | No Comments

Did you know that only 10% to 20% of people with severe mental health problems are in employment? No, neither did I untill I was riffling around in some new resources from SCIE and the Centre for Mental Health this morning.

As it's world mental health day today, SCIE has produced a rather nifty summary of all the evidence on how social care managers can deal help people deal with mental health problems in the workplace.

Here's Pete Fleischmann, head of participation at SCIE, explaining what mangers can do to combat mental health unemployment and better support their staff.

A solution to the Southampton pay cut dispute?

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 6, 2011 10:43 AM | No Comments

The last three months of walk-outs by bin men, social workers and social care staff over pay cuts of up to 5% have yet to result in a deal which will keep both staff and council managers happy.

The council has got to save £75m over the next four years. The pay cuts contribute towards this and will save 400 jobs, according to council leader Royston Smith.

However, it has been three months since the dispute started and I fear that momentum may be falling away from those wanting to protect their current pay rate.

The reality is that Smith's actions appear to have a reasonable degree of public support. A quick look at the comments this story receives on the local newspaper's website show much distain for those on strike. And why wouldn't the public support him? They get to keep much of their council services, without having to shoulder the big rise in tax or charges, which would surely be necessary to cover the budget gap if pay was not cut.

So the public keep their services, taxes stay low and 400 people, who would otherwise be out of job, get to remain in employment. It seems like an ideal scenario.

Don't get me wrong, if I was facing a pay cut of around 4% while inflation ran at 5% I'd probably be thinking about striking too, but in the political arena Smith's logic seems pretty rock solid.

With that in mind it's difficult to see much prospect for a full scale reversal of the pay-cuts.

However, why aren't the unions trying to leverage their members' loyalty to the council? They could, I assume, go on striking for some time yet as long as negotiations are making little headway, something which isn't in the interests of the council, public or staff.

But if they agreed to take the hit their loyalty may have a financial value to the council.

What I haven't heard suggested is a clause in an agreement, which accepts the pay cuts, which would commit the council to restore pay levels as a matter of first priority when budgets increase, which surely must happen at some point in the future (although the prospect of a double-dip recession would seem to push this further down the calendar). I would also argue those staff who stuck with the council through that period should get an increase in their pay at the same time, to at least make up for inflation.

This sort of loyalty bonus, or share holding type scheme, which sees staff rewarded in good times for taking a pay cut in the bad times would be fairer and more equitable than a straight cut. I suspect many people's biggest fear is that any wage cut will never be reversed.

It would also send the message that council management really do value their staff. That is powerful message to send and one which might just diffuse the dispute.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Southampton social workers in biggest strike yet

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 6, 2011 10:20 AM | No Comments

Social workers in Southampton are staging the biggest walk-out yet over pay cuts.

The dispute has been rumbling on for three months since staff were forced to sign new contracts with revised terms and conditions and reduced pay. Social workers earning £22,000 to £35,000 have had their pay cut by 4.5%, rising to 5% for those earning between £35,000 and £65,000.

Until now the walk-outs have been staggered but today sees staff across the council leaving their posts simultaneously.

The argument has gone on so long because many view Southampton, rightly, as a barometer for the rest of the country. Community Care has reported on other councils following a similar route and there are others, which are encountering less resistance.

If social workers in Southampton are successful it will give much greater impetus for unions to oppose cuts elsewhere.

College right to launch without BASW?

By Vern Pitt, journalist, on October 3, 2011 1:56 PM | 4 Comments

Last week the love-in between the College of Social Work and the British Association of Social Workers ended and according to you guys it was the right thing to do.

Over two thirds of Community Care readers said the College was right to push on without the long standing professional association.

The two bodies had been set to merge before launching the college formally, but were unable to negotiate a settlement. Last week's news seems to represent the final chapter of what has been a rather on-again-off-again relationship which saw BASW even stake claim to the College of Social Work name earlier in the year.

The decision means BASW members will have to join the College separately if they want to get the benefits of membership. Whether those who voted the college was right to go ahead in this way are willing to put their money where their mouse, is something we won't find out until membership opens in January 2012.

+Update 16:24 04/10/2011+

At the time of writing this post the two thirds figure quoted was correct (yes votes made up 67% of 161 votes cast) However, I hadn't closed the poll and in the last 24 hours critics to the College's action have racked up 83 votes, half a week's worth of voting (247 votes at the time of this update). That has tipped the scales the other way to show 55% of you guys disapprove of the College's action.

Whether that is as unbiased a barometer of feeling as the original result is questionable, as it seems to be motivated by this blog post, but you'll have to make-up your own mind on that.

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The Social Work blog covers the challenges facing Britain’s 2m-strong social care workforce: everything from pay and working conditions to stress and the latest social work conduct cases.

It is written by workforce beat editor Kirsty McGregor .

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