Ladyman hints adult social services may get new director

The forthcoming green paper on adult services could include
details of a new director of adult social services post, community
care minister Stephen Ladyman hinted this week, writes
Amy Taylor.

Speaking at the General Social Care Council’s annual
conference, Ladyman suggested the post could be included in the
paper just as the children’s services director post had
featured in the Every Child Matters green paper last
March.

His comments follow a letter from National Director of Social
Care Kathryn Hudson and Director of Care Services Anthony Sheehan
to social services departments and health bodies earlier this month
confirming that there would continue to be a “major role for
senior manages in social services departments” in the
future.

However, it explains that there is more work to be done in
defining the adult director of social services role, adding that it
will need to be revisited once the results of Ladyman’s
vision for adult care are clear.

The minister went on to express anger at the GSCC conference at
the slow rate of social worker registration. Figures published this
week reveal that a third of social workers still had not apply just
one week before the December 1 deadline.

“When social workers are asked to register, I don’t expect
to spend the best part of a year cajoling them to fill in forms,”
Ladyman told delegates.

Ladyman also asked whether social workers complaining about what
were in his view trivial problems, such as the size of the form,
“had any idea how small they looked”.