BASW: Vulnerable families need help, not condemnation

BASW has endorsed a report by three UK children’s charities which warns that the number of children living in vulnerable families in Britain is likely to rise to over one million by 2015.

Commenting on the document, Eye of the Storm, published jointly by the Children’s Society, Action for Children and NSPCC, Nushra Mansuri, BASW professional officer, said:

“We applaud the charities for taking this step, the language used so far by Eric Pickles has equated troubled families with being troublemakers, glossing over the impact that austerity is having on vulnerable children. Vulnerable families need help, not condemnation for being poor.

“We know from our members that demand for social care services is increasing. In our recent survey, 54% of the 1,100 UK social workers questioned said their caseloads were “unmanageable”.

“Yet the government continues to cut back social work services to children and families and is tying frontline social workers up in paperwork, rather than deploying them in the most effective way. Something has got to change, and soon.”

Nushra Mansuri recently spoke alongside Tim Nichols from Child Poverty Action Group to an audience of MPs at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Work about the impact of government spending cuts on child poverty and child protection social work.