By Helen Mooney
4 December 2009
The government has accepted a list of radical proposals in a bid to transform social work and the public’s understanding of social workers.
The Social Work Task Force report Building a safe, confident future, published on December 1, proposed that social workers should be licensed to practise.
The task force was set up last year after the death of Baby Peter. It also recommended that social workers should complete a probationary year after finishing their degree. Employers would be expected to agree standards on caseloads as well as to improve pay for the most experienced frontline staff. There would also be a national college for social work to champion the profession.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said: ‘This is a profession which for too long hadn't had status, training, support and sometimes challenge as well to make sure they get to the highest standards.’
‘We won't rest until we know we have the best standards of social work, not just in some places, but everywhere in the country. I hope the profession itself will now take the lead.’
The task force recommended the development of a career structure so that experienced practitioners could progress in frontline roles as well as in management; and a new standard for employers to ensure all employers put in place ‘high-quality supervision and time for continuing professional development and manageable work loads’.
It called for pay reform, urging unions to ‘work together with employers in local government to ensure social workers receive the appropriate pay for their work and that the pay reflects their career development and progression’.
The chair of the task force, Moira Gibb, said: ‘The profession, knocked by widespread public criticism in individual cases has been low on the esteem and self-belief needed to drive forward the improvements required to make social work the high-quality profession we know it can become.
‘Working with the building blocks set out in our interim report, we have put forward a comprehensive reform programme, to help transform the social work profession.’
4 December 2009
The government has accepted a list of radical proposals in a bid to transform social work and the public’s understanding of social workers.
The Social Work Task Force report Building a safe, confident future, published on December 1, proposed that social workers should be licensed to practise.
The task force was set up last year after the death of Baby Peter. It also recommended that social workers should complete a probationary year after finishing their degree. Employers would be expected to agree standards on caseloads as well as to improve pay for the most experienced frontline staff. There would also be a national college for social work to champion the profession.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said: ‘This is a profession which for too long hadn't had status, training, support and sometimes challenge as well to make sure they get to the highest standards.’
‘We won't rest until we know we have the best standards of social work, not just in some places, but everywhere in the country. I hope the profession itself will now take the lead.’
The task force recommended the development of a career structure so that experienced practitioners could progress in frontline roles as well as in management; and a new standard for employers to ensure all employers put in place ‘high-quality supervision and time for continuing professional development and manageable work loads’.
It called for pay reform, urging unions to ‘work together with employers in local government to ensure social workers receive the appropriate pay for their work and that the pay reflects their career development and progression’.
The chair of the task force, Moira Gibb, said: ‘The profession, knocked by widespread public criticism in individual cases has been low on the esteem and self-belief needed to drive forward the improvements required to make social work the high-quality profession we know it can become.
‘Working with the building blocks set out in our interim report, we have put forward a comprehensive reform programme, to help transform the social work profession.’
