Labour and Tory leaders agree to Stand Up Now for Social Work

Senior politicians from the Labour and Conservative Parties have pledged their support for Community Care’s Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign, launched today.

Children’s secretary Ed Balls and shadow children’s minister Tim Loughton joined the growing list of sector leaders to back our call to promote respect for the profession through positive and balanced media coverage.

Balls said responses to our online petition – which now has more than 4,500 signatures – were “encouraging”, while Loughton told Community Care that social workers were the “fourth emergency service” for many people. “Congratulations and thanks to Community Care for standing up for our social workers – as a society we do far too little to celebrate that they are very much part of the solution, not part of the problem,” said Loughton, who is one of 61 MPs to have signed an early day motion in support of our campaign.

Stand Up Now for Social Work has also won the support of:

● The General Social Care Council.

● Unison.

● The British Association of Social Workers.

● Joan Humble MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on social care.

● Sue Berelowitz, England’s deputy children’s commissioner.