Social work role is up for review

Social work role is up for review England is to have its own review
on the future of social work, similar to the inquiry in
Scotland.

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, although 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 private 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.