BASW welcomes chief social worker “victory”

BASW has welcomed the advertising of a vacancy for the position of chief social worker within the Westminster government, describing the development as “a major victory” after the Association called for the post to be established in its BASW Social Work Bill, presented to 10 Downing Street in October 2010.

Published in The Sunday Times on 22 April the vacancy sets out how the post will report jointly to both the Department of Health and the Department for Education. The advertisement states: ‘The chief social worker will be a trusted adviser to government on adult and children’s social work issues. They will work with others to secure sustained improvement in social work practice, raise public awareness and understanding of social work and promote effective communication between the profession, employers and ministers.’

Commenting on the development, BASW chief executive Hilton Dawson stated: “This represents another major victory for BASW. The BASW Social Work Bill published in October 2010 advocated that there should be a chief social worker at the pinnacle of both adult and children’s social work services reporting annually to Parliament on the state of social work. Our vision for the post formed a key part of our evidence to the Munro Inquiry as well as our lobbying on the Health and Social Care Bill.”

The deadline for applying for the post is Monday 14 May. Social workers interested in securing the job might want to consider their suitability for a post that requires, in the words of the advert, ‘credibility and influence across a network of stakeholders’.

It continues: ‘The chief social worker will establish their authority in a context of significant reform including the establishment of the College of Social Work, the planned white paper on adult social care, the implementation of the recommendations of the Munro review, the Family Justice Review and the Action Plan for Adoption.’