Allison Hulmes looks to engage membership in new role

Allison Hulmes, BASW Cymru National Director for Wales, has been in post since the 1st March, replacing Robin Moulster who held the role for over seven years.

Allison paid tribute to the previous National Director, Robin Moulster, for the work he did in raising the profile of BASW Cymru.

Allison has been a registered social worker since 2001, having undertaken the post-graduate programme in Swansea University.

Allison started her professional life as registered nurse and advocated for a group of young men being ‘re-settled’ into the community following the closure of Ely Hospital in Cardiff. This experience prompted Allison to undertake a law degree, to better advocate for the most vulnerable in our society.

As a qualified social worker, Allison spent several years as an adult safeguarding and deprivation of liberty safeguards coordinator and was in post when the DoLS regime was implemented.

Allison then became a Consultant Social Worker in the new Western Bay Integrated Family Support Service and relished the opportunity of a new challenge which focused on strengthening families and strengthening social work.

Allison has delivered training to social workers, the wider workforce and on the Swansea University Social Work programme for a number of years, she is passionate about social work education, especially supporting the conditions for social work research to flourish.

Allison said: “I am excited about building upon the hard work that has been undertaken over the past 10 years, we are respected as the voice for social work and social workers in Wales, so I will be focusing on working conditions and what matters to our members, to ensure we realize this and that social workers in Wales have a strong identity, with a clear sense of the value they bring across all sectors, to those who need care and support”.

Previous BASW Cymru National Director Robin Moulster was dedicated to supporting members and increasing membership, influencing policy and legislation and highlighting issues for social workers around employment and practice. In an overarching role, he was involved with developing and maintaining key relationships with all stakeholders.

Neeta Baicher JP, BASW Cymru Chair, said: “Robin moulded much of the foundations on which BASW Cymru stands today through his professionalism in support of the rights of service users and social workers. Robin had the skill to gather quality people around him, motivate them and generate real results for the organisation.”