BASW UK – A Social Work Manifesto
#SWManifesto19 #SocialWorkPledge19
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW)
calls on parliamentary candidates from all parties to pledge their support
for social workers and the children, adults and families who use their services.
Invest in the social work recruitment,education, professional developmentand retention initiatives we need for thenext decade
According to research conducted by BASW andthe Social Worker’s Union with Bath Spa University,in 2018 60% of social workers were looking toleave their current job within the next 15 months.Of those respondents nearly 40% are looking toleave the profession entirely.
Staff turnover in children’s services in Englandaccording to the Department for Education isgoing up year on year and currently stands at 16%,further official figures show that in Wales 15% ofthe 2017/18 social work workforce left theprofession.
A thriving health and social care workforce alsorequires a flexible immigration policy whichincludes ensuring that the rights and dignity offoreign health and social care workers areprotected.
Promote the role of social workers inmulti-professional, integrated healthand care
Properly delivered integration and multi-disciplinary teams can provide the best possibleoutcomes for all. Social workers are crucial tobringing different sources of support together tobest effect, working closely with families andcarers and protecting rights and dignity.
However, too often the social work contribution inintegrated settings lacks investment andleadership.
BASW expects the next Government to amplify therole of social workers in all integrated settingswhere our expertise can transform the lives of ourmost vulnerable citizens and tackle some of ourbiggest quality and value challenges.
Tackle poor working conditions andunfeasibly high workloads of socialworkers
Compared to the UK average, working conditionsfor social workers were worse than 90%-95% ofother employees in both public and private sectoroccupations, according to research by the SocialWorker’s Union and Bath Spa University.
Social workers worked an average of 64 days peryear more than they are contracted to, an averageof 11 hours a week. High case and administrativeloads are a major source of stress and the qualityof support to children and adults depends onproviding social workers with the right conditions.
Recent Community Care research has shown thatalmost 73% of social workers don’t have a clearcareer development plan. BASW and our partnersknow how to turn this around through betterworking practices – but it also takes investment.
Support and invest in social workpractice that promotes rights, dignity,self-determination and the potential ofall children, adults and communities
BASW’s 80/20 campaign research showed thatone of the main stressors for frontline socialworkers is the lack of resources for services usersand the lack of time spent working with them faceto face.
Relationship based practice is fundamental tosocial work but too often administrative work thatis easier to measure has to take precedence to thedetriment of children and families.
Social workers play a key role in helping peoplewith mental health needs or learning disabilitieslive independent lives outside of institutional care.
Empowering community social work, focusing onpeople’s strengths and assets, is crucial tosupporting families to accessing the right supportat the right time.
Supporting social work and social workers
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End austerity in public services: invest insocial care and reform Universal Credit
14 million people in the UK are living in povertyand all citizens have inadequate access to publicservices, any real end to austerity must tackle thisinjustice as a priority.
Social workers are on the frontline of cuts to LocalAuthority budgets which have hit vital services forolder people, children, families, individuals andcarers so hard in the last decade, alongside crueland counterproductive reforms to the Welfaresystem.
Social workers encounter every day the negativefinancial, health and behavioural outcomes ofservice users who have experienced benefitssanctions, such as disabled people being unfairlypenalised as the 75% rate of successful of appealsagainst PIP1 and ESA2 assessments makes clear.Others are forced out of the system altogether.
Among other measures, BASW asks that the nextGovernment immediately removes the two-childcap on child tax credit and ends the waiting periodfor claimants of Universal Credit.
Roll back wasteful privatisation andprofit driven models in health and socialcare
The privatisation and fragmentation of health andsocial care is increasing. There are seriousconcerns that too little in known about how thesemodels affect people using services and the widercommunity.
BASW is also concerned by the resources beingtaken out of the public sector and distorting theobligations of the state, as well as by a lack ofdemocratic oversight and accountability, forpatients, service users, families, carers andtaxpayers.
The failing adult social care sector as well asprivate prisons and probation experiments havebeen badly affected by profit-driven companiesentering the market, this must not be replicated inother areas.
Resolve the UK-wide homelessnessemergency
The roots of scandalous, widespreadhomelessness lie in a lack of affordable homes andyears of failed housing policies. However,homelessness is also often a complex andentrenched problem for individuals linked to otherissues such as mental health, in-work poverty,substance misuse, the “hostile environment”approach to immigration including no recourse topublic funds, domestic violence and familybreakdown. These have all been hugely under-resourced.
The solution can only be a concerted joined-upapproach across Government with moreaffordable housing and more resources aimed atprevention. There must be urgency in fixing thesupply deficit of help and of housing.
Whatever the outcome of Brexit,protect the peace in Northern Irelandand the human rights legislation thatprotects all citizens
Social work is a profession anchored by humanrights. Global multi-lateral agreements such ashuman rights treaties as well as cornerstones ofpeace such as the Good Friday Agreement arefundamental to protecting those most vulnerablein society not just in the UK but around the world.A Brexit that would threaten any such agreementwould be most painful for those least able tocope; furthermore, any Brexit that would herald anescalation in hostile attitudes to immigrants posesa very real risk to social cohesion.
1 Personal Independence Payments 2 Employment Support Allowance
A Fairer Society
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Please pledge your support by
tweeting using the hashtags
#SWManifesto19 and
SocialWorkPledge19
