Social work must make a stand against poverty - BASW chair

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 21 March, 2023

Social work has a key role to play in speaking out against poverty, BASW’s chair said.

Julia Ross spoke in the wake of findings from BASW’s annual survey in which social workers highlighted the impact of the cost of living crisis on people receiving support from social services.

Three-quarters believe that the people they work with are being driven deeper into poverty.

Four-fifths say the crisis is causing more problems for service users and a third of workers said they are having to support people with their own resources as a result.

Speaking in a webinar to launch the survey report, Ross said: “I have no doubt that poverty is not only with us, but is going to continue and is having a very dramatic effect on people who use services and practitioners.

“We all know that poverty doesn't just have an immediate impact, but it has a generational impact over time.”

Ross said the fact that many practitioners are supporting people out of their own pocket “says so much about social workers”.

She added: “I know social workers won’t see people in poverty and be able to walk away from it. And yet, we actually have to and that must be so difficult.

“For the first time it is at every level, apart from the very wealthy; it is now impacting on people on middle incomes and indeed social workers themselves are experiencing difficulty.”

Standing against poverty is one of BASW’s key current campaigns. The association is to hold an event at Westminster later this month to highlight its concerns to MPs.

Ross added: “We must stand up on tackling poverty. I don't see any other profession worrying about poverty in the way that we do. None of them have the emphasis that we have.

“Poverty is a political issue. And the cost of living crisis is a political issue.”