Profession’s chance to build confidence

A project to define social workers’ roles, tasks and value will give them the confidence other public service professionals already enjoy, the General Social Care Council’s chief executive said this week.

Lynne Berry (pictured) said the image of nurses and teachers had improved because they became better at defining the difference they made to people. She added: “Other professionals want social workers to be a lot more confident in what they do.”

She was speaking as the GSCC launched the second phase of its inquiry into social work with the publication of a literature review and the report of a stakeholder event held in November. The review said improving relationships between social workers and other practitioners was a key issue.

A series of stakeholder events, involving front-line social workers and service users, will culminate in a draft statement on the roles and tasks of social workers.

A public consultation on the subject will be launched soon afterwards in March.

Report