BASW survey: ‘is taskforce workload guidance being followed?’

The British Association of Social Workers is conducting a survey of members to find out if their employers are following the Social Work Task Force’s recommendations for tackling high workloads.

Members will be asked to what extent employers are using the framework developed by the taskforce to assess the “health” of their organisation’s workload system, recommended as an urgent priority by the taskforce.

The framework, published in the taskforce’s final report in December last year, was designed to help organisations undertake self-assessment in five areas:

• workload management
• workflow
• access to equipment and resources
• working environment
• service delivery.

The taskforce called on all employers in England to publish the results and set out plans for improvement.

BASW agreed to survey its 12,350 members at the first meeting of the Social Work Reform Board on Monday.

At the meeting Hilton Dawson, chief executive of BASW, said: “We will continue to hear about terrible cases of agency failings if we don’t act now.

“Positive or negative, we need confidential evidence from members in a wide variety of employment situations so that we can understand how big the social work crisis is and start to reform the profession rather than just talking about what isn’t working.”

The Social Work Task Force, an expert group appointed by ministers, set out 15 recommendations to transform the status, training and conditions for social work in England following a 12-month review.

The government has accepted the recommendations in principle, and will shortly publish a detailed plan explaining how they will be financed and implemented.

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