Law reforms could save social workers 45 minutes a week

The overhaul of adult social care proposed this week would cut bureaucracy and save time for social workers, analysis has shown.

The Law Commission said social workers could expect to save up to 45 minutes a week because of reduced bureaucracy from a more streamlined legal system.

Following a three-year review, the commission has recommended that the law on adult social care be codified into a single statutes for England and Wales, laying the foundation for what the government has described as the “most “significant single reform of social care law in 60 years”.

In the impact assessment of its proposals, the commission suggested that the complexity of the current legal framework for community care increased the administrative burden on social workers and that simplifying it would save practitioners time.

It also concluded that legal training on community care within the social work degree would be simpler and reduce teaching time to 60% of current levels, while there would also be savings in training costs.

Overall, the commission said the net benefit of its proposals for the public purse would be £68m over 10 years.

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