The Social Work Taskforce met for the first time last week to map out its work over the next six months.
Top of the agenda for the panel of 16 experts, which is chaired by Moira Gibb and controversially includes Sun newspaper agony aunt Deidre Sanders, is the administrative burden placed on social workers by IT systems.
The Integrated Children’s System – a computer-based case management system introduced in children’s services in 2007 – has come in for particular criticism from social workers for the amount of time it takes to record information.
Speaking at a Children’s Workforce Development Council conference on integrated working last week, former Bristol Council social services director Bill McKitterick said it was important for the taskforce to highlight the negative impact some systems are having on frontline practice.
McKitterick, who is heading up the CWDC’s programme to support employers of newly qualified practitioners, said: “I don’t know another group of professionals who would have this problem,” he added.
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