A rollercoaster of a year for social work and the world
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 8 December, 2022
December/January
England’s Social Worker of the Year, Vivian Okeze-Tirando appears on the cover of our first issue of the year. She says: “For me, every day is about building people up. I don’t come into work to satisfy my manager, or tick a box… The first thing I see is the positive in people.”
The number of autistic people and people with learning disabilities held in long-term segregation rose 29 per cent in two years, with 100 hospitalised for more than two years, according to a BBC report.
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) says a cap on profit in children’s social care placements is not needed. This, it says, would fail to address the “underlying problem of insufficient supply of appropriate placements”.
The cost of childhood adversity is said to be £23 billion a year in a report commissioned by England’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Wales unveils plans for a fairer society including free school meals for all and a National Care Service.
Retired social workers are urged to return to ease staffing crisis.
Northern Ireland gets a three-year extension to welfare mitigation payment.
Sociologists say in the post pandemic world the concept of the ‘risk society’ is now the new normal.
February
War breaks out in Ukraine. The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) issues a message of solidarity: “Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, including social work colleagues in Ukraine, those in health and welfare services, and all those who have loved ones in Ukraine who will be understandably deeply worried.”
Fears of a staffing crisis in adults services in England grow as a deadline for getting double vaccinated looms. Without this, staff could be banned from working.
The government is urged to consult with social workers after announcing in January plans to scrap and replace the non-mandatory £24 million Assessment and Accreditation System in England.
Professor Ray Jones is appointed to lead 16-month review of children’s social care in Northern Ireland. He is donating his £108,000 fee to a university scholarship scheme for care experienced and deprived students.
March
A BASW survey highlights seven out of ten social workers feel unable to complete work within contracted hours, with 93 per cent not paid for additional hours. Asked about their biggest workplace challenge, most say lack of support with administrative tasks followed by staffing levels, workload and accessing resources.
A 11,00-strong petition is delivered to Number 10 demanding care rights are extended to all children in social care placements until the age of 18.
Regulator Social Work England is to examine whether discriminated groups are more at risk of appearing before fitness to practice hearings.
Scotland’s first ever APPG (all party parliamentary group) for social work meets as SASW urges the government to act to prevent an “exhausted” workforce leaving the profession.
A universal basic income scheme for care leavers is launched in Wales.
April
The strain of working during Covid is cited as partly to blame for a seven per cent rise in vacancy rates among children and family social workers in England by BASW.
The UK has “sleepwalked into a dysfunctional children’s social care market” where a shortage of places enables private providers to charge excessive fees, warns the CMA.
The strip search of a 15-year-old Black girl on school premises highlights that “the reality of racism is ever present in our education, criminal justice and other systems,” says BASW.
Social Work Scotland is to investigate the number of cases held by social workers.
Social workers in Wales join calls for a Cardiff venue to cancel a show by comedian Jimmy Carr following a joke he made seen as offensive to Romany and Sinti Gypsy people.
May
Social work is listed as one of the kindest professions in Radio 4’s Kindness Test, which surveyed more than 60,000 people.
Social workers in Wales call for the mileage rate to be increased in the face of sky-rocketing petrol prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
Anger is expressed after transgender people were omitted from a proposed ban on conversion therapy.
Good will among children’s social workers is “running low” after two years of Covid, warns Steve Crocker in his inaugural speech as president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.
June
The final report of England’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care recommends investing £2.6 billion over four years. Most of this - £2 billion – should be spent on building a new family help system. It also recommends a national pay scale for social workers, recruiting 9,000 additional foster carers, paying kinship carers, abolishing independent reviewing officers and requiring all social work leaders and academics to take part in 100 hours direct practice in order to remain registered.
A report by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson says investigative multi-agency child protection teams should be set up in every local authority in England.
Government figures show one in ten full-time equivalent social workers left local authority children’s services in England in the year to the end of September 2021, a 20 per cent rise.
Scotland’s Setting the Bar survey of 1,588 social workers finds unmanageable workloads, excessive admin, fear of making mistakes and an ageing workforce are contributing to a “tipping point”.
Warnings about stark choices between heating or eating emerge as campaigners warn of a tough winter ahead. Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley gives the news of astronomic rises in energy bills, describing it as a “once in a generation event.’ Disability activists warned how disabled people faced “widespread and deepening poverty”. BASW called for greater government support for all.
Political limbo in Northern Ireland is putting “unprecedented pressures on social work”, BASW NI warns.
The treatment of vulnerable patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital is described as “the worst adult safeguarding scandal since the NHS was formed” by a campaigner at the launch of a public inquiry.
July/August
The complete omission of social care from the campaigns of the Tory leadership candidates prompts a backlash. Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group (ICG), writes to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss: “I would like to invite you to visit a frontline social care provider to see for yourself the crisis facing the care of our oldest and most vulnerable citizens.”
Survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster call for the creation of specialist emergency social work teams to ensure a rapid response to future tragedies.
Research by the Social Workers Union (SWU) finds a lack of flexible work options is adding to the recruitment crisis in social work, with fewer than 20 per cent of new job posts offering part-time hours or job sharing.
Social Work England is consulting on its readiness for professional practice guidance – a new set of standards for the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSP) education providers are expected to equip students with.
Scotland sets out its plans for the UK’s first National Care Service in a historic bill. The Scottish government outlined how ‘care boards’ would be created, transferring social care workers over from councils. The creation of the NCS was a key SNP manifesto pledge in the 2021 Scottish elections.
September
The death of Queen Elizabeth II shocks the nation. Tributes flooded in, alongside observations that for many living with the legacy of British imperialism, her passing has led to mixed emotions.
A PSW survey reveals 95 per cent of social workers fear people will die this winter as a result of the cost of living crisis. The same number also thought domestic violence would increase, and 75 per cent believed more children would enter care.
The Welsh government announces that eliminating profit from children’s social care had become a key priority. The vision is for public, charitable or not-for-profit provision of care for children.
BASW and SWU call for the end of placing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels as figures show 1,606 were accommodated this way between July 2021 and June 2022.
October
The resignation of Liz Truss over the mini-budget leads to anti-poverty campaigners accusing the government of "making the poorest kids and families in our society" pay for their mistakes. Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), says: “Families up and down the country are terrified about how they will get through the tough times ahead."
Under the recommendations of a seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse, social workers and other professionals who fail to report a disclosure of child sexual abuse could be fined or even jailed in England and Wales. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse also recommends a Child Protection Authority be set up in each of the four nations.
New guidelines on the media reporting of social work and social workers are launched, enshrining the right to protection from unbalanced or potentially harmful reporting. The advice was developed by the Social Workers Union after stories emerged of the impact on individuals caught up in negative coverage.
The Scottish government launches a review into whether children’s services should be part of the new National Care Service.
Northern Ireland’s review into children’s social care says the use of agency workers should end and a new children’s social care service be created removing them from integrated trusts, in an interim report.
November/December
Older people in care homes and hospitals are still experiencing lockdowns in facilities, despite a relaxing of government guidance. Campaigners said: “Families have been forced to stand aside and witness the devastating effects that isolation has had on their vulnerable loved ones.”
Directors of adult services predict the “worst ever” winter, blaming “decades of policy paralysis”, the cost of living crisis and high staff vacancy rates.
A pay rise of up to 6.6 per cent for social workers is dubbed a real term pay cut by unions in the face of inflation running at nine per cent.
A social worker in Northern Ireland is said to be recovering after being stabbed three times by a 16-year-old service user.
Northern Ireland’s outgoing health minister Robin Swann urges the public to help ease pressures on health and social care staff this winter.
Warnings are issued over the costing of Scotland’s proposed National Care Service. Scotland passes a bill making it easier for people to change their legal gender.
Social Work England blames “user error” for more than 1,000 social workers being deregistered despite submitting their renewal on time and paying the registration fee.
A safeguarding review into the death of Logan Mwangi in Bridgend finds opportunities were missed for agencies to share information and professionals worked in “silos”.
MPs praise social workers during a debate on children’s social care in the House of Commons while highlighting the pressures they are facing.