Review of social work in England planned

England is to have its own review on the future of social work,
similar to the ongoing inquiry in Scotland, writes
Mithran Samuel.

The General Social Care Council said it was doing some
“scoping work” on an English equivalent of the 21st
Century Review of Social Work in Scotland.

The English review is likely to have a narrower remit than the
Scottish inquiry, which has looked at the entire social work system
in Scotland.

Instead, the English inquiry is expected to examine the role and
purpose of social workers, though the GSCC said it could not
comment on its remit.

In an interview with Community Care this week, the
Department of Health’s national director of social care,
Kathryn Hudson, championed the English review.

She said: “There’s a specific social work role and
we need to revisit it and define it rather more clearly.”

She said it could lead to more social workers practising outside
local government, in the voluntary and community sectors.

The Scottish review, which is set to report this autumn, has
concluded that social workers are over-burdened by bureaucracy and
could be freed up to spend more time with service users by
transferring work to support staff.

Read more about the interview in Thursday 1st September issue of
Community Care.