Anyone work in one of these 'units'? what is the difference between this model and ordinary SW teams? and what is a consultant social worker?
I dont know the first half. But a consultant social worker is a QSW with substantial post qualifying experience and expertise in a particular area in which they consult with other organisations over. For example a consultant social worker may well be someone who is a very experienced manager and may well do contractual work with say a local authority in order to improve their management and ultimately improve their ratings. Or could be (for example) child protection consultant who is purely an expert in their field and knows their stuff. Some organisations may use the title instead of senior social worker, but its more so for seriously good social workers doing consultancy work.
This should tell you what you need to know.
Reclaim Social Work.
cheers for that grinch but I've already seen it. but its too much information on all the downloads and it still doesn't explain it clearly (well not to me anyway)
wondered if anyone had worked or is currently working to this model and could give me an overview of what its really like
We did an interview recently with the guy who set it up that you may find useful
CareSpace support
Hi All
the Social Work Unit model operates in the LB of Hackney, I am one of the Consultant Social Workers. I have to say from the start that the model is a brilliant way of working and I do not know many social workers who would advocate returning to the traditional method of "doing" social work.
The Unit works as a multi disciplinary small team and each member of the Unit works with all of the families, although there may be a lead worker, in the true model, each member of the Unit brings different skills to each child and/or family.
The Unit members are a CSW who is an experienced social worker or previous manager, and leads the Unit. I have 15 years childrens social work expereince and was previously a manager.
There is also a social worker, and Children's practitioner. A CP might be a NQSW, a teacher or similar.
There is also a Unit Co-ordinator who organises all the admin tasks and so much more, organises contacts, payments, meetings etc and as mainly office based and has extensive knowledge of the families can always deal with queries or enquiries.
Finally a 0.5 clinician is also readily available to give a clinical eye/lens/view.
Visits to families can be shared, direct work can be undertaken and most importantly risks can be shared and managed amongst a very supportive Unit. The CSW also has a high degree of autonomy, and to a degree manages our own budgets.
Hackney has a very open policy in terms of management guidance and support, and the Asst Director is very hands on and approachable, she operates a direct approach and believes in supporting front line workers to spend time with children and families, this is evident in the senior management team who all sit alongside the practitioners.
Also importantly the SW Unit provides high levels of support to each other both within and beside other Units.
Case loads are sometimes high but this is always kept a careful eye on, and each SWU is given space if they are having a particularly difficult time. Hackney has a wide range of Tier 2 services which are easily accessable.
I know i sound like an advert for Hackney but I can honestly say that there is a good vibe down here, I dont think there is a high turn over of staff, and it is mainly perm staff, in Children's services.
Hope this helps, cant really think of amny negatives about the SWU model, sometimes the families get a bit confused at the beginning of a new allocation about who's who but we explain the SWU staff in detail and send out letters and/or emails with everyone's names and roles to try and help with this. usually people are just happy that there is someone available who knows their information/story.
Any queiries let me know
Hi rickthrn,
Thanks for taking the time to post, it's great to hear from someone who actually works in Hackney. Your model of social work, on paper at least, has always seemed to me to be a much better approach than the traditional one so glad to hear that it works in practice too.
I do have a couple of queries which I hope you can respond to. Are you still expected to follow the ICS model and complete all of the relevant records or are you empowered to be creative, innovative and use your own initiative in your assessments and intervention?
I know it's early days yet but have you found that your credibility and status has improved, in particular, that other professionals are more confident in your judgements?
Thanks in advance.
G
Hi grinch
yes we have ICS documents and complete them in the same way, however we are empowered to be creative with our use of the forms, but we still have to follow the requirements.
Senior managers work hard to enable us to be creative with the paperwork and I know that out CP forms and LAC forms have undergone a recent revamp. We also have a weekly panel where we can book in for specific requests, ideas, risk management, delay in planning etc for any cases that are not progressing smoothly or are particularly high risk.
we are very much encouraged to think outside of the box, eg if we need 24 hr community based assessment, as an alternative to residential, it can be and has been offered.
Different Units can undertake assessments for different Units families if required, and the courts are accepting of this degree of independance.
One of the main positive developments of the SWU is the relationships that have been built with our partner agencies, it is very rare that queries and requests are not met almost immediately. Other professionals are happy with our services, we have recently (about 3 weeks ago) had an unannounced inspection with Ofsted and the feedback was very positive from other professionals that were contacted.
we have a weekly Unit meeting where all the issues, developments and plans are discussed by all members of the Unit, and plans for work are agreed, report writing, home visits etc this enables everyone to be fully informed and updated about each family, however as all unit members sit together every day, listen to telephone calls, discussions etc and talk with each other all the time, it is not difficult to know what significant developments are happening with each family on a day to day basis.
I know that the model is being explored by other councils as an alternative to traditional social work teams and I hope that other councils and more importantly the front line workers get to experience the support that a SWU can offer.
Thanks
rickthrn: Hi All the Social Work Unit model operates in the LB of Hackney, I am one of the Consultant Social Workers. I have to say from the start that the model is a brilliant way of working and I do not know many social workers who would advocate returning to the traditional method of "doing" social work. The Unit works as a multi disciplinary small team and each member of the Unit works with all of the families, although there may be a lead worker, in the true model, each member of the Unit brings different skills to each child and/or family. The Unit members are a CSW who is an experienced social worker or previous manager, and leads the Unit. I have 15 years childrens social work expereince and was previously a manager. There is also a social worker, and Children's practitioner. A CP might be a NQSW, a teacher or similar. There is also a Unit Co-ordinator who organises all the admin tasks and so much more, organises contacts, payments, meetings etc and as mainly office based and has extensive knowledge of the families can always deal with queries or enquiries. Finally a 0.5 clinician is also readily available to give a clinical eye/lens/view. Visits to families can be shared, direct work can be undertaken and most importantly risks can be shared and managed amongst a very supportive Unit. The CSW also has a high degree of autonomy, and to a degree manages our own budgets. Hackney has a very open policy in terms of management guidance and support, and the Asst Director is very hands on and approachable, she operates a direct approach and believes in supporting front line workers to spend time with children and families, this is evident in the senior management team who all sit alongside the practitioners. Also importantly the SW Unit provides high levels of support to each other both within and beside other Units. Case loads are sometimes high but this is always kept a careful eye on, and each SWU is given space if they are having a particularly difficult time. Hackney has a wide range of Tier 2 services which are easily accessable. I know i sound like an advert for Hackney but I can honestly say that there is a good vibe down here, I dont think there is a high turn over of staff, and it is mainly perm staff, in Children's services. Hope this helps, cant really think of amny negatives about the SWU model, sometimes the families get a bit confused at the beginning of a new allocation about who's who but we explain the SWU staff in detail and send out letters and/or emails with everyone's names and roles to try and help with this. usually people are just happy that there is someone available who knows their information/story. Any queiries let me know
Hi Rick
thanks for that insight. Just a few questions if you dont mind
Are there any FSW's or admin in the unit?
Are the units made up of around 5/6 staff? If so how does this work with regarding sickness, annual leave, toil, or if you've got 5 families who have supervised contact with their children every day and it needs 2 staff to supervise?
So the individual SW doesn't case hold like we do now in regular SW teams, is it the team who case hold? How would you decide who did the core assessments/court reports/S47 if you had to go out at 5pm of an evening etc etc how would that be decided? Just a bit concerned that some staff would be landed with the tedious paperwork and the late nights
thanks
"Cant think of any negatives"?..."There is a good vibe"?????...Who for? This model is disastrous for social work practice and the protection of children since it has invisibilised child protection and rendered some sort of systemic trance amongst its workers that has rendered them impervious to risk. In short it has watered down traditional social work values returning to an upper middle class missionary mentality amongst its proponents who have very little local knowledge ofr the local community it purports to serve.
Hi
The Unit has a Children's Practitioner who has a similar role to a FSW in so much that they are either a newly qualified SW or a teacher or someone who has significant expereince working with children and families.
Admin tasks are met by the Unit Coordinator
In relation to TOIL, AL, etc, as we are a close knit team, and we arrange days off in conjunction with other unit members, this works well in practice and whilst it is hard to work with one person down, it is not impossible and the advantage is that cases/families/children are known by all unit staff so we can easlity respond to emergencies, ensure visits are carried out and respond to information requests etc.
It is very rare that we have to supervise contact ourselves, we have a good contact service who manages all contact arrangements either in house or to a commissioned providor. we might observe contacts or supervise in an emergency where court directs an immediate contact but this is very rare.
The CSW holds case responsibility for all cases allocated to a particular Unit, and home visits are shared. Re court statements this is managed usually by one lead worker but other members assist with home visits etc.
Core assessments and other reports are usually provided by the unit member who knows the family best, but it can easliy be changed to another person if there is reason to do this.
We all take an equal role and all of us have stayed late and undertaken late home visits, I think all social workers have to manage this in children's services, but once again if there is an emergency and someone has to go home then the other staff would pick it up.
Hope this helps
Sorry wise owl
I have to disagree, not sure if you have worked in Hackney but I think that we manage the risks involved with CP appropriately, we focus on strengths of the child's family as well as risks, but are never scared to say this is too dangerous for this child.
I can assure you that Risk management in Hackney is a top priority and is not overshadowed by a systemic approach. One of the strenghs of clincical input is that they have an integral view on our families is that they broaden the social work assessment and provide different skills to working with children and their families.
I dont really understand your words "returning to an upper middle class missionary mentality"I think Im too working class having come through the system myself, and fyi I live in Hackney too, so there goes your myth....lol
interesting comments wiseowl
Rick, right i'm a bit clearer now (I think) what i was getting confused about was, in my team the co-oridnator is the supervisor, she does not do admin tasks she works with the manager in running the team and has a small case load. manager does just that, manages the team, holds no cases. and a FSW supervises contacts mainly, and will help with phone calls and other bits and bobs
What concerns me is that the unit will only be made up of 5 staff and one of those wont do SW tasks (the co-ordinator) so that leaves 4 people to hold approx 25 cases between them.
How does it work if someone is ill? or if someone is on maternity leave? or if 2 people want the same holidays?
I'm also concerned about the allocation of tasks, as we all know that some members of our teams dont pull their weight, wont work after 5, wont arrive until after 9, (particulary those with children) wont do paperwork at home etc etc so that will in effect mean that some people will be 'put on' or you will get the 'I did it last time' syndrome
Did you work for Hackney before they worked to this model? did you have a specific contact centre and contact centre workers then? Because in my team the FSW's have to supervise the contacts (which IMHO is ridiculous, they are intellegent people, who get paid a fair wage just to sit and supervise contacts day in day out and they being de-skilled in the mean time )
Also what happens to the duty system?
ps thanks for the insight
Hi jelly tot
Ok I would say that the Unit co-ordinator's role is to undertake the SW admin tasks, eg manage contact changes and transport, deal with finance for families, compile stats, respond to requests for information, file documents, send out letters minutes etc etc all the tasks that strangles front line practitioners in their efforts to get out and see children etc, it really is a massive relief on the social workers and the UC role is designed to be just that.
The Units dont hold cases exactly, we have numbers of children, and allocated children is meant to be 35 children per Unit, this does vary from 25-40 depending on complexity of need etc. If the Unit is very busy then we are not included in the transfer of cases and given a breather, eg Iv took one new case in the last 3 months as we have some particularly complex cases at the minute which wont settle.
Obviously its more difficult when someone is absent illness etc but long term leave is covered with an additional staff member, and we just compromise with holidays, Uni etc
In my experience, everyone who I have worked with pulls their weight so to speak, obviously I cant speak for everyone but can only report my knowledge, it feels really supportive to work in the Unit and I know that this is something that is reported again and again by new staff.
I did not work for Hackney before this model, but yes the contact centre has been established for a long time.
CIN do not run a duty service, however the UC can contact us at any time if he/she is the only one in the office and tbh if there is an emergency looming we try to make sure that there is a unit member in the office. very rarely is there no-one from a unit in the office.
Also the CSW's are buddyed with another unit in case of AL, emergency's etc but this happens rarely and as there are 19 units in CIN you can always get advice and guidance if you need it, however we all have phones so we can be contacted on if need be.
Senior management sit amongst the Units so someone is always available even if it is not a senior manager from our service area.
I guess over the 2 odd years that this model has been working it is now bedded in so to speak and whilst there will always be emergencys, we do not tend to fire fight, cases are managed and this creates a knock on effect with colleagues, and families, so risks are more managed and planned. I think that this has taken time to come to fruition and like I say we deal with s47's EPO's ICO's all the time, thats the nature of our work, but whilst I am sitting at home writing an intial application or out with police etc, I know that essential paperwork is being completed for a placement or checks are being done while Im out of the office, and home visits on other children are still being done.
I can only speak about my experiences and what I see and hear from others. also it helps that we have a wide range of Tier 2 services, Parenting support workers, (maybe like the old style FSW), a good contact centre, Youth support services, mentors, gang prevention, school based social workers etc, DV services including a perp programme and womens groups alongside the more traditional colleagues, and many other types of services.
Now I definately sound like a Hackney promotional excercise lol and I dont seem to be able to spell either.
anyway thats my views and maybe another Hackney employee may have different views
Are you sure you aren't on comission for selling Hackney SSD
how big is the area that you cover?
If you dont do duty then who does? is there a specific duty team?
Wow you've took 1 new case on in 3 months, I'm liking that lol! Like the fact that if you've got too many cases you can effectively close the doors, but in that case where do the incoming cases go to?
Sorry to keep asking questions but I'm keen to learn about this way of working as it wont be long before my LA is following this way.
Is there anyone else who works to this model who can give some of their experiences?
Im sure HR are loving me if they read this thread lol
apparantly we have a population of 212, 200 an inner london borough size of 19.06 km2 (7.36 sq mi) and are ethnically diverse!!!
there is a specific duty team called First Response who deal with incoming referrals every day and up to 24 hrs, if referral requires assessment then case moves to Referral and Assessment Units, if longer term intervention is required then case transferred to Children In Need. Also Rapid response Units to mainly prevent children and young people being accommodated if at all possible, less cases=high levels of intervention.
Incoming cases would be distributed to Units with space. We are a Tier 3 service and we work with families to the point where they can transfer to Tier 2 or move on to LAC or Adoption teams mainly or close. CIN works all the court cases, private and public, Children in need and children subject to CP plans.
Maybe when your LA makes the changes you can compare the differences yourself and come back to me and say what your expereinces are.
Good luck
Hi rckthrn,
I'm loving the sound of this "collegiate" model of working Having experienced SW in German, I find it reassuring to see English SW practice very, very slowly moving back towards a truer "team" ethos and better sharing of caseloads
The de-skilling of FSWs, by seemingly using them only in the "contact" role is disappointing, though I firmly believe that the support worker role is much too under valued today It will be interesting to see how quickly other LAs take up the baton of the Hackney Model.
Thanks for your insight
Does anyone know which other LA's have adopted this way of working? I'd love to hear from people's experiences, although its very kind of rick to share his with us i feel that there has gotta be some cons to this way of working. My main concerns are that not everyone will pull their weight, we've all got lazy people in our teams who will stop at nothing to try and get out of doing something and I fear that this new way of working will give them a field day
I also work for Hackney but as a Children's Practitioner. I'm afraid however if you are hoping for someone to offer a more balanced view of the model of working I can't offer it.
I also think the Reclaim Social Work model works really well and often find myself sounding like an advertisement for it. I have only been working at Hackney for a short while but I think it's a great way of doing things. Perhaps a reflection of this is the positive views that all of the staff offer. I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't like the unit system and staff turnover seems low.
As a soon to be NQSW the Children's Practitioner post is great. I am within an extremely supportive unit and am finding it to be a great first step into Social Work. I gained no real Child Protection experience from my placements at university and the Children's Practitioner post is offering me this in a supportive environment.
The unit meetings offer a real opportunity for everyone to reflect on the progress made on cases and a great way of bouncing ideas off of each other. I also think in reference to a previous post about concerns about the impact of the model on safeguarding the unit meeting is a great way of people who have less involvement with a case offering a more objective view whilst having full knowledge of the case and this in some cases will mean challenging the views of other members of the unit. In comparison to the one extremely overstretched LA I had my placement within there also is alot more time to spend with families and I feel I am not constantly firefighting which is what every SW doing longer term work within the LA I had my placement in said they were doing.
Additionally, in terms of people not pulling their weight I think the fact that the units are so small means that we very much work as a team and I know within my unit the work is very much shared. I guess in a way it is harder to get away with not pulling your weight as everyone within the unit knows what work you are doing and so knows whether you realistically have the time to take on a piece of work or not, in comparison to in a team when knowledge of others cases and workload can be more limited.
Sorry if this only seems to be echoing what has already been said. In regards to other LA's adopting the model I have heard of quite a few who are considering it but have yet to hear of any who have implemented it. It'd be really interesting to hear if any others have.
Sorry, I know I'm a bit late to this party, and I normally don't like it too much when old threads are restarted as if they had never died out in the first place, but by way of an excuse I have just read this article in the Grauniad http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2010/oct/20/with-reclaim-social-work-hackney-council-leads-revolution so it is kind of topical again.
Having read the Grauniad article I then read the appraisal document that was published in September (available on the Hackney website) which funnily enough was co-authored by none other than Eileen Munro. The evaluation seemed to be very positive. I haven't yet read the full "how we do things round here" document as it is a bit big, but I will try and get through it at some stage. Given Eileen Munro's apparent approval of the scheme and her current influence I wouldn't be at all surprised if it does give us a view of the future of social work.
My question, and the real reason for this post, is to ask seriously what issues people see with this model? In simple terms it strikes me that if this is the future then the future is a bit brighter than it might otherwise be (maybe not exactly glowing, but any improvements have got to be welcome!). I know unison were objecting at first when this was introduced, but from what I can tell this was due to the details of the consultation process, and the fact that the model has fewer qualifies SWs than the previous way of working. But we shouldn't necessarily object to a good model just because it requires fewer SWs. If those SWs are empowered to deliver a better service and achieve better outcomes for the children and families they support then surely that is the most important thing. Besides, I know there are some professionals (well, I've certainly heard one) argue that the problem isn't that there aren't enough social workers, it is that the social workers that do exist are prevented from doing what they should be doing and that we need to understand better what it is that only social workers should be doing.
I am normally much better at challenging, appraising and finding fault in proposals like these, and maybe my problem here is that I simply don't yet have the experience as a qualified practicing SW to be able to judge properly, but I would be really interested to hear the views of people who remain sceptical about this model, or are at least prepared to play devil's advocate with it.
Also, does anyone know if Unison remain in objection to the model, and if so then on what basis given what it seems to have achieved (staff turnover reduced, better career structure in place, SWs spending more time doing social work and spending more time with the families, numbers of children taken into care reduced). I suppose on the final point re LAC there might be the concern that children are being left with their families when they shouldn't be, but it is hard to believe that this would be the case (I mean in general, rather than isolated cases) given that the opposite seems to be these case across the country at the moment.
Any thoughts much appreciated (other than the thought that I need to get better at writing shorter posts!).
Dear friends
I like Reclaim SW model very much.
Very useful for me.
Rgs
I have read the Sept 2010 evaluation report and it seems a bit thin:http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/rsw-evaluation-report-sept-2010.pdfI would make a distinction between the role of Social Work being reclaimed and Social Workers (re)claiming a better role.If the outcomes are better for those needing care and protection then I would like to see better presentation of evidence.Something grates when I hear a hear a group of workers or service reduced to the term 'Unit'.Adverts for the Consultant Social Worker role have been open throughout the projects history, does this mean problems with recruitment and retention?
If memory serves me well, I seem to remember that the unit's had been set up on the basis that only one registered Social Worker (the Consultant) was needed per unit and all other Children's practitioners did not need to be Social Workers, in much the same way as Family Intervention Teams (FIT) do not require Social Workers. FITs workers are often line managed by a Social Worker and all the direct contact, assessments and court work/reports are undertaking by other FIT workers.
My greatest puzzle about the 'reclaim' model is concerned with the indication that I cannot see how a Social Worker can join the unit without being a Consultant and therefore there is no career pathway for a Social Worker to join the Unit and then progress to a Consultant.
More recently I have noticed that Hackney appears to be recruiting Children's Social Workers (not consultants), does this imply that it could not recruit or retain enough 'Unit' Children's practitioners and is therefore drifting back to the more traditional Social Worker based team model?
The model also appears to be built more upon a Clinical model of Social Work, evidenced by Consultant's being offered PhD training opportunities based upon:
Foundation in Systemic Practice and opportunities for further qualifications in systemic family therapy
Introduction and Foundation in Social Learning Theory
A Systemic Leadership and Management Programme
http://www.hackney.gov.uk/reclaimingsocialwork-job-profile.htm
JoSoPhine: I have read the Sept 2010 evaluation report and it seems a bit thin:http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/rsw-evaluation-report-sept-2010.pdfI would make a distinction between the role of Social Work being reclaimed and Social Workers (re)claiming a better role.If the outcomes are better for those needing care and protection then I would like to see better presentation of evidence.Something grates when I hear a hear a group of workers or service reduced to the term 'Unit'.Adverts for the Consultant Social Worker role have been open throughout the projects history, does this mean problems with recruitment and retention? If memory serves me well, I seem to remember that the unit's had been set up on the basis that only one registered Social Worker (the Consultant) was needed per unit and all other Children's practitioners did not need to be Social Workers, in much the same way as Family Intervention Teams (FIT) do not require Social Workers. FITs workers are often line managed by a Social Worker and all the direct contact, assessments and court work/reports are undertaking by other FIT workers. My greatest puzzle about the 'reclaim' model is concerned with the indication that I cannot see how a Social Worker can join the unit without being a Consultant and therefore there is no career pathway for a Social Worker to join the Unit and then progress to a Consultant. More recently I have noticed that Hackney appears to be recruiting Children's Social Workers (not consultants), does this imply that it could not recruit or retain enough 'Unit' Children's practitioners and is therefore drifting back to the more traditional Social Worker based team model? The model also appears to be built more upon a Clinical model of Social Work, evidenced by Consultant's being offered PhD training opportunities based upon: Foundation in Systemic Practice and opportunities for further qualifications in systemic family therapy Introduction and Foundation in Social Learning Theory A Systemic Leadership and Management Programme http://www.hackney.gov.uk/reclaimingsocialwork-job-profile.htm
Correction: The 'Units' do have one Social Worker + a Consultant. I suggest a better insight may come from a Social Worker in a 'Unit' (not the consultant) and ideally one who has also worked under a more 'traditional' model. I doubt whether any really critical comments from a 'Unit' member will be forthcoming, as Hackney Council may see such as a breach of Contract and may seek out any dissenting author. Communicate from your workplace at your peril....
You appear to be confused about what a unit conists of so I hope this helps.
Each unit is headed by the Consultant Social Worker, however every unit also includes another Qualified Social Worker, as well as a Children's Practitioner (who is unqualified, although also can be a NQSW), a Unit Co-ordinator and a Family Therapist (who is shared between two units). There is consequently a very clear career pathway that people can take. For example, I am a soon to be NQSW who like many SW students had no opportunity for a placement which involved Child Protection work. I consequently applied for a Children's Practitioner Post with the intention of gaining that experience before applying for a qualified Social Worker post.
I have also heard of Unit Co-ordinators deciding they want a career in SW and becoming Children's Practitioners before being supported by Hackney to undertake SW training. Hackney seem to be very supportive of Children's Practitioners who wish to progress by doing the SW training.
As for the frequent adverts for Consultant Social Workers, I may be wrong but I would guess this is largely due to the fact that changing to the new model did not happen overnight in order to ensure it's effective implementation. My understanding is that more traditional style teams have continued alongside the units whilst they were created therefore there has been frequent advertisements as new units have been created.
Sorry I went away from my computer in the middle of typing this post and then came back to it so I wrote my last post before seeing your most recent one.
For you info
Dear Hackney Borough Council Children's Social Care, Please provide a full copy of your evaluation report with regard the Reclaim Social Work model used by Children's Social Care. You have only published the findings, I consider the Public Interest would better served by disclosing the full version to me by email within the next 20 working days. Decisions have been made to publish Serious Case Reviews, why not an independent review of your Reclaim Social Work model? Yours faithfully, Paul Hanson
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/reclaim_social_work
"I doubt whether any really critical comments from a 'Unit' member will be forthcoming, as Hackney Council may see such as a breach of Contract and may seek out any dissenting author. Communicate from your workplace at your peril...."
True. Unless there is anyone out there who has left the council of course, which presumably someone who really did not like the model would do.
I will be the first to admit I am very mindful of the fact that these posts associate me to my workplace and you may note that I do not use this account to comment on any other threads for this very reason.
SoonToBeNQSW: "I doubt whether any really critical comments from a 'Unit' member will be forthcoming, as Hackney Council may see such as a breach of Contract and may seek out any dissenting author. Communicate from your workplace at your peril...." True. Unless there is anyone out there who has left the council of course, which presumably someone who really did not like the model would do. I will be the first to admit I am very mindful of the fact that these posts associate me to my workplace and you may note that I do not use this account to comment on any other threads for this very reason.
hp paul: For you info Dear Hackney Borough Council Children's Social Care, Please provide a full copy of your evaluation report with regard the Reclaim Social Work model used by Children's Social Care. You have only published the findings, I consider the Public Interest would better served by disclosing the full version to me by email within the next 20 working days. Decisions have been made to publish Serious Case Reviews, why not an independent review of your Reclaim Social Work model? Yours faithfully, Paul Hanson http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/reclaim_social_work
I have signed up to monitor this and the request has recently been acknowledged:http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/reclaim_social_work#incoming-125238
Paul,
I am awaiting the response to your request with interest. This Model appears to be hailed as the way forward for Social Work at the moment. The only comment I would make is that when systems are considered as good as this is, it almost seems too good to be true, and usually is.
I have downloaded the Model and all the info from Hackney etc, but would welcome a straight forward simple description of the model from anyone who is familiar with it. It is the method and theory underpinning the model I am being obtuse about. Is it the Systems theory? Seems more therapeutic to me ?
I find since retirement I am becoming more and more confused about and remote from Social Work Theory, Methods and Models.
Thanks.
I'd be curious to see more results on this model also.
At a first glance, it reminds me of some of the agile systems models (so that would be from systems theory, yup. It;'s about how an adaptive system can be made to adapt more quickly and accurately to outside requirements/ goals). I know from my time as code monkey. So I'm favourably inclined towards it if so, because in my experience, it's the organisation style that was most satisfying for the actual engineers -- people really enjoyed working in small, agile, multi-disciplinary teams with lots of user input.
This is an agile manifesto - it's written from a software dev. point of view but the take home points are:
- Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable ((service))
- Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done
- The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
- At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Hi everyone,
I can comment on Reclaiming Social Work from a perspective that you may find interesting; I am an ex-Hackney social worker, having recently left to join another authority. In addition, I was the Unison convenor for Hackney CYPS at the time of the roll out of the reclaiming model, and have been variously a rep or convenor up until the time of my resignation in September. I will thus try to give a balanced picture without fear or favour.
First off, let me say that the unit based model is a bloody good idea that generally works well and deserves to succeed.
From the Union point of view, the contributor who had heard that any opposition from us to the restructure was based on the way it affected individual members of staff, was quite correct. There will always be opposition to change, and the reclaiming initiative was no different; it would have been possible in the early days to mount a vociferous opposition to Reclaiming which would have carried along a large body of staff. However, our stance was to accept the change in principal while concentrating on the effects on individuals. I think we were correct. For example, under the new structure, existing team managers were to be assimilated as Consultant Social Workers. While they would have remained on the same grade, CSWs are practitioners rather than mangers, and they were very reluctant to return to the "doorbells ans sofas" side of social work. Unison was able to resolve this generally satisfactorily.
Rick, writing above, has spelled out his perception of the benefits of the Unit model. However, there is a downside too; for example, the ability of Units to handle every case when sickness, annual leave or other absences combine is not as good as sometimes claimed. But I would not wish to be seen to be carping about a system that fundamentally works.
A part of the reclaiming agenda which I am less enthusiastic about, is that Hackney is very much more prescriptive about its methodology than any other Authority of which i am aware. Systemic theory, CBT and SLT are all in, while psychodynamic work is pretty much out. This has various implications; it is of course good that theory is taken seriously by management, and one result is that training (let's not say indoctrination) in the approved theories is given a high priority, which is good in career terms. It is less good if one happens to have a commitment to psychodynamic working, perhaps with a great deal of successful experience.Hackney may not be the right place for you. The justification is that the favoured approach is evidence based, but some of us anticipate that psychodynamic interventions will also be the subject of favourable evidence in the near future.
It has also meant that it has been very difficult to recruit CSWs with the requisite level of training in the approved methodologies and this is coupled with a belief, in some quarters of senior management that recent British social work training has been unfit for purpose. The result has been that Hackney has looked overseas to recruit CSWs, with the result that a number were recruited with limited knowledge of local conditions and less experience than some locally-trained workers; this caused a certain amount of resentment, especially coupled with some injudicious comments about the quality of the existing Hackney social workforce.
So, two cheers for Reclaiming Social work? I would make it two and a half. Nothing is perfect but Reclaiming, if the initial organisational change can be managed fairly , is system which works pretty well in terms of outcomes and worker satisfaction. The units encourage systemic work (with which I have no problem) and I detected signs that it is acknowledged that the human psyche has depths beyond the superficial ripples of CBT and SLT. It is just that plumbing them has resource implications.
If reclaiming-like change looks like coming your way, embrace it. But join the union.
Hope this answers some of your questions.
One critical thing to consider is that the 'model' uses the words:
Social Work
and this is by no means a better model for Social Workers but could be a better method of Social 'work' Intervention.
Hot off the press:Thank you for your email of 05th November 2010 in which you requested information regarding the full evaluation report of the Reclaiming Social Work model. Your request has been considered and the information you require is attached. 3 December 2010
Attachment 1 3169488 Paul Hanson FOI Response.doc420K Download View as HTMLhttp://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/51132/response/130736/attach/html/4/1%202816227%20RSW%20FINAL%20Report%20Sept%202010.pdf.htmlAttachment 1 2816227 RSW FINAL Report Sept 2010.pdf2.4M Download View as HTMLhttp://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/51132/response/130736/attach/html/4/1%202816227%20RSW%20FINAL%20Report%20Sept%202010.pdf.html
I'm not sure I fully understand the distinction you are making, JoSoPhine; at least, if I do understand it, I would say that the new model is good for social workers because of the evidence of increased job satisfaction and reduced sickness.
JoSoPhine: One critical thing to consider is that the 'model' uses the words: Social Work and this is by no means a better model for Social Workers but could be a better method of Social 'work' Intervention.
To clarify, I was seeking to raise a flag that local authorities have a vested interest to introduce 'models' of state social work that do not require state registered social work/ers. IE: Via outsourcing and situations like:8,000 vulnerable children denied social workershttp://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/17/115831/8000-vulnerable-children-denied-social-workers.htmMore than 850 Birmingham children-in-need lack social workershttp://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/08/27/115167/850-birmingham-children-in-need-lack-social-workers.htmand the creation of thresholds for service provision that more or less expunge existing assessment and eligibility criteria:Councils eye Birmingham's 'super-critical' care thresholdEarlier this week, Birmingham set out plans to limit directly funded adult social care to people with critical personal needs - a higher threshold than any of the four bands set out in the government's Fair Access to Care Services guidance: critical, substantial, moderate and low. http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/12/03/115948/councils-eye-birminghams-super-critical-care-threshold.htm
The development of outsourced Social Work practices highlights that the direct work only has to be supervised by registered social workers, it is OK for such 'practices' to allocate social work cases to non social work/ers.A brave new world with a high dose of Soma.
Quixote wrote the following post at 3 Dec 2010 8:26 PM:
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Please see earlier posting, above this one.
Hi JoSoPhine,
again, you never fail to "nip to the nub", and then the reference to Aldus Huxley. I'm becoming a fan
Although, I have to admit to being a total convert of RSW, no model is perfect nor can any model fit every possible situation. I have faith that the "Hackney" model, and future incarnations in other LAs, will have the flexibility to allow for local development to fit specific local needs.
Quixote, I thank you for your alternative view; again, I'm confident that the RSW model will, with greater insight and uptake, be flexible enough to allow for the employment of additional theories and models of intervention to be incorporated. While not a fan of psychodynamic approaches, I understand they have their supporters and appropriate uses. Social workers are well to remember that no one theory or model is prefect, we need to open to all theories and models and their periodic developments, adding them to the repetoire in our "tool boxes" allowing us tobetter assess given situations and apply the "best fit" theory or model to benefit the particular service user.
I'm glad this thread has found new life.
S&G
Why is it not possible to introduce the structure below in other settings?
Creating smaller teams (I dislike the term Unit), of a fully fledged Team coordinator, A consultant social worker, a social worker and 2 or three other coworkers according to the kind of work being undertaken.I am puzzled why the staff from Hackney 'Units' have gone silent?
Interesting observation here:"The Hackney debate is hot on CareSpace now, with first-hand accounts from a Hackney social worker, and you can take a look at Munro's assessment here. Or, if you're not up to the 98 pages, fear not- we'll be having a read ourselves and will highlight anything interesting in the news section of our website. Keep an eye out!"http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/childrens-services-blog/2010/12/eileen-munros-evaluation-of-hackney-model-here.htmlJust remember if you think any of your Public authority employers practice and policy needs the light of day using the Freedom of Information Act can prove useful...
JoSoPhine: Just remember if you think any of your Public authority employers practice and policy needs the light of day using the Freedom of Information Act can prove useful...
Just remember if you think any of your Public authority employers practice and policy needs the light of day using the Freedom of Information Act can prove useful...
A little off subject, but I agree with JoSoPhine, however be mindful that the Data Protection Act will still apply, so go easy if your applying for information that may relate to an individual... being on the recieving end of a public FOI request (with people often using false names) i'm sure is not a nice feeling...