On 5 March the Department of Health published a joint statement outlining the roles and tasks of adult social workers in England. The document parallels the statement on the roles and tasks of childrens social workers commissioned by the Social Work Taskforce.
Although both statements are a useful summary of what social workers can do, and what they can do well, neither statement is very useful in a context where cost pressures, workload pressures, and skill mix are leading some employers to erode the role of social workers in roles and tasks which safe and effective practice should dictate are best done by social workers.
Unlike the 2008 GSCC statement “Social work at its best: a statement of social work roles and tasks for the 21st century” http://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4EDB6D7E-C18C-4A38-8BEA-D271E9DFFC06/0/RolesandTasksstatementFINAL.pdf neither of these statements contained a list of “Functions requiring social work skill and expertise” as set out in section 7 of the latter statement. The GSCC statement was itself was a weaker version of the Scottish statement on the role of the social worker in http://www.socialworkscotland.org.uk/resources/pub/RoleofSocialWorkerVisionPaper.pdf
Last month the Scottish government published guidance for local authorities on the role of the registered social worker in statutory interventions which is not simply a descriptive document but helpfully clarifies the statutory role and is intended to be used in employment tribunals and at the Scottish Social Services Council to determine whether individual social workers should remain on the register, the documents for England are purely descriptive. It is well worth reading.
Without a statement that sets out, with backing from regulators, those roles and tasks which require social work skill and expertise, it is inevitable that some – and probably a growing number of – employers will seek to find cheaper options than social workers to undertake some work that would best be undertaken or closely supervised by social workers. In adult services, personalisation is increasingly undermining the role of social workers in some employers. In childrens services, some employers already delegate work to other staff without clear evidence that this is safe or more effective.
Aspect believes a clearer definition of what must, and what should, be done by social workers (with statutory status) would be in the best interest of service users if the cost pressures, and the impact of personalisation and remodelling of social work, are not to create unsafe or inappropriate working practices. The Scottish model is well ahead of England’s both in its content and now in its status.
Aspect’s handbook “What if?” (free to members) seeks to give practitioners and managers clear guidance on some of these issues.
