This week has offered signs that the debate about the future of
adult social work might be about to get moving. Paul Burstow's
comments at the launch of the College of Social Work and the press
in advance of the College's own event on the future of social work
are really interesting. Might we be on the verge of a shift with a
White Paper coming up? Is this now the time and opportunity for
social work to be reclaimed? In particular can social work make a
positive connection to personalisation (I know many individual
social workers are trying hard to do so)?
As a registered social worker who has spent 30 years working in
a variety of roles in social care, I have both a passionate
commitment to independent living and a strong respect for the
profession. Personalisation and prevention are at the centre of
policy and are developing in practice in social care, but, although
progress has been made since the publication of Putting People
First in 2007, significant challenges remain.
For social workers reductions in budgets and staff, alongside
the restructuring of departments, are of course a major
pressure. But there are also issues about who does what to
maximise people's choice and control over their support.
In times like these there is an understandable risk that people
sometimes circle the wagons in defence of their existing roles. I
would argue though that, however difficult, now is the time for
social workers to assert a positive set of roles in the development
and delivery of prevention and personalisation, and for their
managers to enable this. What might this mean?
Here I will focus mostly on personal budgets while acknowledging
that they are only one element of personalisation. Ali Gardner's
recent book Personalisation in Social Work considers the
complementary value bases of social work and personalisation,
reviewing the range of roles that social workers can usefully play
in practical delivery of personal budgets from assessment through
to review. She persuasively argues that social workers play
valuable, sometimes critical roles at each step of the
process. But she also recognises that there are significant
questions, given that social workers are a scarce resource and that
the goal is self-directed care, about how social workers can best
contribute where people have personal budgets.
A recent think piece published by Think Local, Act Personal,
titled Re-thinking Support Planning: Ideas for an alternative
approach, puts forward some ideas. The focus should be on
supporting people to achieve good outcomes using a variety of
practical resources. Many people don't need social workers to
achieve good outcomes and unnecessary involvement can even delay
and restrict self-direction. For others support is best provided
through peer support or other offers from user or carer-led
organisations.
Other people, however, including those in complex, isolated and
risky situations, will often benefit more from the skilled
interventions and focused attention of social workers. Better
targeting social work skills, coupled with the provision of
self-help tools and alternative forms of support, will both serve
the needs of a frequently overstretched profession and of those who
require social care. Beyond personal budgets there could be serious
opportunities for social workers to play a valuable role in helping
some people avoid or delay the need for long term care, supporting
them to build and use their personal and social capital.
For strategic managers and elected members, this will mean
re-conceptualising social work within new local service frameworks
and to enable new forms of practice. For social workers it will
require a positive, and sometimes assertive, reclaiming of their
profession.
Martin Routledge
Note - a version of this piece appeared in the first
edition of the College of Social Work Magazine
Resources
Ali Gardner, Personalisation in Social Work, Learning Matters,
2011
Simon Stockon and Helen Sanderson for Think Local Act Personal -
Re-thinking Support Planning: Ideas for an alternative
approach
Last Updated : 03 February 2012. Page Author: Laura Bimpson.
