Would you pay more tax to increase spending on services including social care?
- No, taxes are too high already - the government needs to be more efficient. (31%, 878 Votes)
- Yes, we need more funding. (26%, 725 Votes)
- No, taxes should only rise on the wealthiest. (25%, 707 Votes)
- Yes, but I would only pay a social care-dedicated tax (18%, 490 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,800
Loading ...Social work opinion is split on whether the new Labour government will improve the lives of those using social care services.
A Community Care poll with nearly 1,200 votes revealed that 41% of respondents lacked confidence in the new government’s ability to improve the lives of those supported by social workers. Almost a quarter (23%) felt “very unconfident” and 18% “quite unconfident”.
On the other end of the spectrum, almost a third (31%) expressed confidence, with 23% “quite confident” and 8% “very”.
The remaining 28% said they were “neither confident nor unconfident”.
Child protection reforms
The poll results come with the new government having given mixed signals on its approach to social care since taking power.
Labour’s first King’s Speech, earlier this month, included three pieces of legislation concerning the sector.
For children’s services, the government announced a bill to strengthen child protection that would also introduce registers of children not being educated in school.
However, the details of the bill are unclear and it’s also uncertain whether and how far the government will move forward with the previous administration’s 2023 children’s social care reform strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love.
Adult social care cuts
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Picture by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street)
The King’s Speech also included the long-awaited reform of the Mental Health Act 1983 and a fair pay agreement for adult social care staff, both of which were promised in the Labour manifesto.
However, the party has yet to set out any funding plans for the pay agreement.
At the same time, the government has already made two significant cuts to adult social care funding.
In a statement on Labour’s financial inheritance from the Conservatives, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the scrapping of long-planned reforms to the adult social care charging system, including a cap on care costs. The Treasury says this will save £1.1bn by the end of 2025-26.
And then care minister Stephen Kinnock revealed that the government would ditch a fund to resource training for adult social care workers. Both moves have been heavily criticised by sector bodies.
How confident are you that the new government will deliver for people who use social care services?
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None at all. A Tory government under a different name. One needs to borrow/tax the wealthy to reinvest in local government services. These have been starved for years.
A Tory government under a different name. To be candid that is absolute balderdash.
Labour is robbing poor pensioners. How much are MPs paid, including their extensive expenses? Socialism includes redistribution of wealth from the vastly wealthy to those in on need. Has Starmer and others of his ilk chosen to forget this for their own gain?
If you are referring to the changes announced about the winter fuel payment then actually the policy proposed – not the sensationalised but the media reported – will actually mean that the poorest pensioners will actually be significantly better off.
Whilst the changes to the child benefit threshold haven’t been implemented as [I’m sure] we all would like, Labour haven’t said a blank no, goodbye. They have said that plans need to be developed so that child poverty can be eradicated within the countries ability to pay. A part of the problem has been the sly old Tories cornering Labour to pledging no tax rises for working people. That is why Labour are having to look at the problem to see what can be done.
Leeds, Stockport, Hartlepool signify the end of the road for postmodernist thought, no? Continental philosophy has given way to analytical philosophy and behavioural management and at scale.
The eighties saw the creation of a divide between the core and peripheral labour ~ neither are happy and traditional reactions of ‘fixes that fail’ and ‘tragedy of the commons’ hold up. So, will the major trade unions break with the Labour Party and organise an alternative seated in local community representation and municipal socialism ~ the only real difference in actual local provision is who’s the better employer. Contracting and procurement is, as has been said in Middlesbrough, simply out of control.
It is as Zizek wrote, about Less Than Nothing, and as Reshe reminds, about the new dawn of Depressive Realism. Zero sum gaming triumphs, again! Yanis Faroukious, the former Greek finance minister, and Shaun Hargreaves-Heap wrote about such decades ago.
David, is, of course, right! Without lasting cash transfers between rich and poor there’s unlikely to be real change.
The bigger and almost surreal considerations are though to do with the casm being felt between the traditionally organised public sector and its recipients.
Neoliberalism is, now, an embedded project; first crafted by the Thatcherite right wing philosopher Roger Scruton in the ‘Omega Project’ ~ a blue print for the Great Right Wing Moving Show, Stuart Hall wrote about has happened across the US and Europe.
Participation in services is, now, a Duty to Engage without any cognisance to the underlying assumption of an enduring white protestant work ethic ~ it’s a powder keg!
Vulnerabilities are now assessed by reference to super language modelling ~ this is the true method of determination of what is meant by relational; it’s not as Eileen Munroe said but rather the reliance on computational descriptors mapping the corrolations between the liklihood of an individuals stated preferences being true or false/fraudulent ~ the boolean 1010101 of it all.
Vulnerability has been redefined.
And, so has the landscape of what represents a social service’s service. The new poor laws are now, in a post Brexit Britain, hatchlings with local, regional and national identity forged upon who’s deserving and who is not.
Parachuting-in, literally fire fighting, and emergency rescue is now the normal norm.
Afterall, spending 6 months in Oxford is likely to have a greater impact on the life chances of a child than a life time on an inner city or council outer estate.
The Children Act 2004 was modelled on this assumption. And, it’s a huge equity backed investment opportunity (a couple of years ago Camilla Cavendish, writing in the FT, issued what by any other name was an IPO plugging the MacAlister Review as the panacea of all ills)
The underclass is now permanently permanent ~ the pay dispute between qualified social workers and social care support workers a fault line within each SSD across the country ~ as the ‘lucky’ working class are pushed forward to take up the slack and engage with those suspicious of a degree educated middle class counter parts.
State liabilities for vulnerable populations have been eroded by sucessive government’s since Thatcher. Still Building Bridges and Working Together the trojan horses for increasing digital interoperability and surveillance of the poor and down trodden.
It’s a proper shit show, no?
Brexit is literally being lived and right now. When June Thorburn wrote that social workers don’t know what powers they have she was wrong ~ using them in today’s world is a blatent manifestation of State violence and the antithesis of the Code of Ethics, no?
Thoughts …
GPs have now decided to “work to rule” regarding over work. Social Workers need to do the same
Alec. Wow, just wow. Lots to think about hear but as an off the cuff comment, I agree with much – but not all of what you post.
If I get a couple of hours, I’ll post my more considered thought later.
I’ve been kicking around for decades Anne-Marie like since 1982 professionally and as a practice teacher for eons; having grown up in kinship arrangements (which weren’t called this) and could boast having had alot of exposure to social services as most of did (60+ kids living on our street) – my Dad had a psw (it was David Hinchcliffe former Chair of the Health Committee who always took my calls to chew the cud and did so out of life long respect for my Dad); my mam, a probation officer and my big sister both a esw and cp-sw ~ it was my mates who said I should be a social worker and like when I was 14 yrs old!
The main point is that social work was sewn-in and ‘we’ however bashfully accepted and needed the social protection offered to lessen the impact of a grinding poverty and hostility as Irish immigrants at the height of ‘the troubles’ in the 70s …
Anne-Marie
I look forward to your considered thoughts
Best wishes
There is no social services to speak of these days.That includes health and Adult social care.Alec, I agree with you that state liabilities for the poor and vulnerable population have been eroded, support for vulnerable children and people in sociality is becoming increasingly eroded with no sight of improving any time soon.
Those who have worked and paid into a system all of thier life’s see themselves having support taken away from them when they most need it.
Have most of these people not paid into a system all thier life’s only to see the goal post move when they need it.If you have paid into a system why should you not have the benefits of doing so.
It appears the norm for those in power to move the goal posts is unquestable.I speak in reference to those who belivied they could retire at 50 then told it be 55 years old then 60 years old only for the goal post to move resulting in certain sections having to work longer than expected.Now with the threat of what they have put into the system being taken away.How can there be any confidence or trust.
Can there really be any confidence anything will change?.The decisions and policy’s made affect us all in some way or other.
Having the confidence to do something is a tough call Pauline; for me it’s, now, about surviance a term I learned from my US colleagues working with indigenous people from the Five Nations Tribes (my surname is recognised as being-of the Tribes although I just learned this very recently as I was ‘picked’ to look into some pretty horrible stuff for them) So, by tough-call I also mean being ‘unfounded’ like I simply don’t exist in any records held having been employed by certain authorities. Sheesh, eh! But, then I am Irish Catholic too so what’s new, eh!
This said, the learning is exponential. Like there’s no such thing as reflective-action, yet!
In short, Council’s must show that they are actually Local Authorities, again!
Social Services, and crucially social workers, were once the mechanism for direct talks with elected members ~ organising local branches of, say BASW or as the Independents did a few decades ago, is an option and has always been a good thing although the BASW leadership over the past few decades has been more narrowly focused and career minded for an elite few.
The under-standings reached are nolonger capable of absorbing the particulars of people’s lives ~ it’s a powder keg created to undermine the very existence of any kind of universal services obligations; Brexit has only just kicked-in.
David’s points to the macro structural inadequacies of advanced capitalism, as does Christian Kerr but having spent time looking at these issues with colleagues ( Bojan Radej,Julie Reshe (Lulliia Reshetnikova) from the former socialist countries and Babette Babich from the US the omission in this story is what is described as a mesoscopic evaluation. Lena Dominelli and Robert Adams warned that the sheer economic size of corporation’s was such as to break national Government’s ~ previously under the EU the Inter-State Dispute Mechanism, a secret Court, would sit and reach determinations about trade-agreements the EU having decided that social welfare services were, as was the case until Brexit, an area of economic activity. This decision was taken in July 2008 shifting all education and social services out of an exempted category.
Structurally, the institution of Social Work was meant to occupy the middle ground between the macro and micro ~ this ground must be fought for, and on terms that the public would accept and welcome ~ the decision to continue, (when in theory there’s no need to) with the backdoor privatisation, is governed by what?
£4trn of Equity backed dry powder, perhaps?
The ‘wellbeing’ agenda is harnessed to this income stream and crucially the advances made by the neuroscience and behavioural management are also geared entirely towards the same.
Organising locally and with elected members is a must do and for those so minded to do so, as NAPO representatives have done, to stand for election as local cllrs.
Just saying….
The two child benefit cap is now Labour’s, as is the Nana Tax. They talk of difficult choices and have chosen to target the most vulnerable, rather than the billionaires, rather than the tax havens, rather than recoup the covid greed. They are worse than the Tories, because they pretended to offer hope and change.
MPs are paid £91 346/ year and generous expenses. What are they giving up in these hard economic times when they expect pensioners, for example to make sacrifices in terms of severe reduced entitlements?
Alec,I have read your comments over the years.I can see that you have a great deal of knowledge and lived experiences.
The Micro and Macro in social work is being eroded building relationships to communicate with all service users and other professionals in the wider community no longer exist ,exploring a service users cultural needs, interacting with other professionals such has schools,the police,professionals in the wider community can come with difficultys in communications,receiving support, decision making and services.(Sorry to say but true)
Working together is eroded and brings with it challenges for social workers and I expect other professionals who are also facing reductions in services and funding.However those services do not appear to reach those who need it.
The welfare state was built to support the vulnerable,those who have experienced traumatic life experiences yes we make choices what we do with these experinces, however they can impact how we view the world and our values. The elderly who have worked all thier life’s some from the age of 15/16 years now fear loosing what they have put into a system.Is this not unacceptable?
With out support we loose balance of what is right and wrong if there is no surveillance from services standing up for the rights of all in a balanced way.
It appears the elderly,children and those of the vulnerable population are the ones who’s support systems have been affected.How can those who worked all thier life’s have what they have worked for have it taken away.Vulnerable children who need protection and support systems in place are suffering because of a lack of resources,professional pratice and funding.
A person’s lived experience influences how they view themselves in the world be that adult’s or children. I wonder whether politicians recognise just how important these services are in building a society built in respect and dignity for all.Just saying!!!
David, I agree with your comment.This can not be right nor should it even be up for serious discussion.
These are my opinions based on my experiences.
Now you’re talking Pauline !!! The essence of the spirit of phenomenology, is what? And, I provoke…
Between the-having-in-a -material-world-and-being-in-that -world, is what?
Anxiety? And, how to tame it, perhaps? What are the axioms of welfare today ~ and how have they been crafted, by who and by what means, and to what end?
Christian Kerr asks ‘Social What?’ And, should be supported to write more, and freely so.
Hilary Searing has written for decades on the over professionalisation of social work.
The Left’s adherence to the legacy of Althusser ignored that the under-standings created in the social contract and principal of solidarity have been in the hands of people more concerned about the protection of an espoused value than the real delivery of the values.
EP Thompson’s, A Poverty of Theory: An Orrery of Errors is a good read. As is Babette Babich on ‘Between Having and Being’ also Daniel Ruedo Garrido ‘Being and Power’ is worth a look. Zizek’s Less Than Nothing when considering Julie Reshe on Depressive Realism is useful too. Julie’s direct work with women survivors of war is pretty informative stuff ~ trauma as initiation, community as therapy….
There’s a whole host of stuff surfacing under the banner of ‘Post Apocalyptic Studies’ from the University of Heidlebuger ~ and the study of surviance as concrete reflective-action. David Miller, a former miner, teaches at Manchester Metropolitan University and has covered ‘aftermath’ in the wake of the industrial upheaval in the 80s ~ when the Mayor’s and Combined Authorities meet to consider macroeconomic development how come it’s the same people from the same areas that don’t benefit from the property ?
Reflective practice, as a competency, is a myth, right? So what’s registration actually about? What is Social Work trying to prove and, is it, asking the right question’s?
We vote for politicians to make the right decisions on our behalf.
I honestly ask myself what will be different?
I hope this government has an understanding of the difficuiltys faced by those important services we all rely on and have contributed towards.