Angry social workers informed Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, much of their time was spent on paperwork to satisfy government initiatives and to prop up “ineffective” inspections. This prevented them from seeing vulnerable children.

They accused Ofsted of forcing social workers to produce numerous extra reports and figures instead of meeting families and doing their job.

Mr Balls said that the Baby P case showed that failures in Haringey had nothing to do with record-keeping but were due to poorly co-ordinate interventions.

To loud applause, Hilton Dawson, the chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers and a former Labour MP, told Ed Balls that…

“This response simply won’t do. This is not an issue about good case-work recording. This is not about good communication. What social workers are having to do 80 per cent of their time is serve a bureaucratic machine, which actually has nothing to do with good social work and has everything to do with keeping a really ineffective inspection regime operating in a way that does not support really effective work with children and families,”

Mr Balls had first come under fire from Jim Couchman a former Tory MP, presently Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for adult services, Mr Couchman said.

“The response of your department to Victoria Climbié and more latterly Baby Peter has been to impose a very heavy-handed bureaucratic system of records,”

“Will you stand back now because that has led to our social workers having to spend far too much time in front of the screen and far too little time out there with the families that need your help?”

Mr Balls said he would not and went on to say.

“The idea that social workers who are dealing with complex cases of potential child abuse or neglect wouldn’t be making records or keeping track of what they do doesn’t seem to make much sense”

He went on to say

“I don’t accept that if we somehow went back to a day in which we didn’t keep records, somehow we’d improve child protection.”

Mr Balls acknowledged that more flexibility was needed in the way information was recorded, and said that would be introduced. But blaming problems on central direction and targets was “missing the point”, he said.

Following months of investigation, The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of adults services reported that social workers from the South Tyneside Council are delivering a high standard of care to elderly people.

The CQC inspectors met with elderly people and their social carers, staff and managers from South Tyneside Council and overall were very satisfied with the quality of the services provided.

Inspectors said:

“We saw evidence of a range of good provision and commissioned services, these included specialist services for people with dementia, palliative care and home care.”

Another area the inspectors also looked at were the arrangements in place to safeguard vulnerable adults, and found that performance was adequate.

The commitment and quality of services provided by South Tyneside social workers should be an example to be followed by other social workers around the country and should also serve as an inspiration for others thinking of starting a career in social services.

The commitment and quality of services provided by South Tyneside social workers should be an example to be followed by other social workers around the country and should also server as an inspiration for other thinking of starting a career in social services.

The stories surrounding ‘Baby P’ continue to make the headlines of Britain’s most popular newspapers, this past week a new round of shocking facts emerged that makes the case even more disturbing.

The Haringey Council sacked five more social workers who failed to protect the 17-month old boy. Baby P’s social worker Maria Ward, Team Manager Gillie Christou, Head of Safeguarding Children Clive Preece, Head of Children’s Services Sharon Shoesmith and a fourth official Cicilia Hitchen, were all  dismissed without any payouts.

Another shocking fact revealed this past week is that Baby P’s mother could have her sentence reduced by a third because she admitted to her part in his death. This is known as a guilty plea – if someone accused of a crime confesses their sentence is cut by a third.

All these facts and much more have created serious problems for Haringeys Council Social Services and has forced the Council to offer inflated salaries in the hope of finding qualified social workers to work in the area.

The highest salary on offer at present is for a Locum Team Manager advertised at £68,000 a year for Haringey’s Children in Need Safeguarding Service. Several perks will be offered in addition to the salary including a £7,000 relocation allowance, season ticket loan, ‘gold-plated’ local government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, a mobile phone and a pre-approved loan of up to £50,000 towards buying a property.

For junior social workers posts the Borough is offering a nation’s high of £38,000, while the national average is around £18,000 rising to £30,000 for team leaders according to the Government’s website ww.socialworkcareers.co.uk

The national shortage of qualified social workers continues, scared off by being under fire in the media when a case ends in tragedy, hence the Baby P and Brandon Muir cases, social workers are finding quieter areas to work where they are not as exposed.

With children’s social work all over the news, it is harder than ever to recruit social workers for this specialised area. In total there are 1.2 million social workers in the UK but another 13,000 social workers are needed urgently; the demand is higher than ever for people that are willing to take on this challenging but rewarding job.

Despite the bad press in recent years, children’s social work is a fulfilling career, making a difference in a child life is priceless.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect about social work is that every day is different, social workers face different challenges day in and day out, the unpredictability of this field and not knowing what social workers may face in the day ahead can be an exciting task.

If you ask any qualified social worker working in child protection what is the highest point of their career, I can guarantee 100% will say being able to see a child’s life change for the better before their eyes.

Little things like a child telling you they feel safe and happy, their confidence and self esteem is growing and feeling they are important enough for someone to care about them is extremely rewarding, no money in the world can buy this feeling of accomplishment from knowing you made a difference in a child’s life.

If you are a qualified social worker who has worked in the child protection area before, please consider working in the area again – there are thousands of children in need of your assistance. For more information contact Restart Resources.

Our last post reported on the government launching a campaign to encourage retired qualified social workers to go back to social work.

To aid the government campaign, social work agencies across the country started to go through their databases and send out letters and emails to retired but qualified social workers.

Barbara MaCarthur, an 82 year old who retired from social work in 1982 received one of these letters asking her to return to the profession. Macarthur is aware of the lack of social workers in the UK said:

“I knew they were desperate for social workers, but I didn’t think they were this desperate!”

The social work agency who sent Mrs. Macarthur the letters said that they were not aware of her age and the problem occurred because they used a database of previous employees to send out emails and letters.

There are many positions to be filled in the social care area, if you know any friends who are qualified social workers or you are one of those qualified social workers looking for work do not hesitate to contact Restart Resources.

As awkward as this title might sound, the campaign is for real and is happening right here in the UK.

At the beginning of the month, the government launched a campaign to lure retired social workers back to their jobs due to the lack of qualified social workers and the struggle of local councils to recruit social workers.

A report from the Local Government Association (LGA) called Respect and Protect revealed that 1 in 10 social worker jobs remained empty and 89% of councils had reported difficulties with social workers recruitment.

As councils across the country are having a hard time to recruit and retain social workers in their jobs, the government launched this campaign as a short term measure to try and encourage up to 5,000 retired qualified social workers to go back to social work.

Alan Warner lead officer for communications at the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) said:

“Social recruitment and retention problems had been exacerbated by the negative publicity surrounding the death of Baby P, which had caused the public to lose respect for social workers, the public at large need to get behind social workers and support them.”

And added:

“We need to give people respect for what they do. If there is no respect then why would anyone want to do it?”

And concluded:

“There needs to be more information made available to the general public about what social workers do, and perhaps national awards to recognise achievements. There is no overnight fix for this; we just need a more balanced approach.”

Continuing from where we left on our last post, in this post you’ll find detailed information of what qualifications are required to become a social worker in the UK.

To become a social worker you will need to study for an honours degree or a postgraduate degree in social work, the course must be approved by the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

To get on an honours degree you will need at least five GCSEs (A-C) including English and Math and at least two A levels or equivalent such as a BTEC National Diploma or NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care.

Some colleges and universities may also grant access to students with a Higher Education qualification or relevant work experience, so it is best to check with them what qualifications are required.

When you apply for a course you’ll also need to pass a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) background check.

Honours degrees in social work are 3 year full time courses, there are some part-time and distance learning courses but you can only do these courses if you are already working in the social area and have with the support of your employer.

For the full time courses, your time will be divided between classes and supervised work placements that will train you to work with a wide range of service user groups as well as prepare you to offer a comprehensive range of experience to employers when you start work.

In case you already have a degree, you may only do a two-year postgraduate degree in social work instead of three years. After completing your honours degree or postgraduate degree you must register with the GSCC, visit their site for detailed information about how to register.

GSCC is also the commission that approves all full-time, part-time and distance learning courses in the UK, with the exception of the Northern Ireland that has its own Social Care Commission, the NISCC (Northern Ireland Social Care Community).

A social workers job is to protect, help and support people who are facing difficulties in their lives. A qualified social worker help others overcome problems and improve their lives and at the same time be prepared to work with a wide range of social services users, including:

• Children
• Older people
• People with some kind of disability, physical or mental
• Young adults
• Homeless people
• Drug addicts

Social workers tend to specialise in working with single adults or with children and families. In both cases he or she should prepared to:

• Assess and Review a service user’ situation
• Build relationships with service users
• Make decisions when necessary, common in child protection cases.
• Offer information, counselling and advocacy
• Take part in team meetings, supervision and case conferences
• Work together with other professionals, such as Health, Law and other social care professionals
• Keep an accurate record of events.
• Contact and make referrals to other agencies
• Provide evidence of court hearings

It is crucial for the social worker to have excellent communications skills, the ability to relate to people of all ages, social classes and races and gain their trust as well as have a non-judgemental attitude.

These are only a few skills required for someone that is willing to work as social worker, on our next post you will find detailed information about what qualifications and skills are required to be a qualified social worker in the UK.