NIASW report – July/August 2012

NIASW has been delighted to be a part of the second Regional Social Work awards in Northern Ireland. This annual award ceremony, hosted by The Northern Ireland

Social Care Council (NISCC), is an opportunity to promote and celebrate excellence in social work. Congratulations to all who were nominated for an award. The winners and categories are listed below:

Award 1: Children’s Services Team Award – Regional HIV Social Work Team, Belfast HSC Trust.

Award 2: Adult Services Team Award – Older Focus Team, Addiction NI.

Award 3: Partnership Team Award, for supporting carers of looked after children – CAMHS and Southern HSC Trust.

Award 4: Social Work Education Team Award, for service users and virtual world learning – Ulster University.

Award 5: Children’s Services Individual Award – Julie Armstrong, Western HSC Trust.

Award 6: Adult Services Individual Award – Harry Murphy, Belfast HSC Trust.

Overall Winner: Older Focus Team, Addiction NI

NIASW childcare & bureaucracy survey

NIASW is continuing to work on the childcare and bureaucracy agenda raised by members.We have had preliminary meetings with both the chief officer of social services and the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee. This is what we have told them so far:

·      80% of social workers who responded spend less than a third of their time in direct client contact

·      There is not enough admin support in teams

·      The volume of reports and recording is excessive and unnecessarily bureaucratic

·      83% of social work staff consistently works more than their contracted hours.

We want to go back to the key stakeholders with the most compelling evidence we can gather regarding this issue. So if this sounds like you – “I can hardly carry out my duties due to the extent of admin duties ... I’m afraid that one day the sticking plaster will break!” We ask you to give us five minutes of your time and tell us your real life experiences – the good and the bad. Please go to: basw.co.uk/countries/NIASW-blog/bureaucracy-in-childcare and complete our survey. We will be extending this survey to adult services staff in the autumn.

Committee vacancy

Calling all social work students! We have a vacancy on the NIASW Committee for a social work student representative. If you are a student and you would like to be more closely involved in the work of NIASW, please contact us.

PQ Awards

NIASW staff were delighted to exhibit at the PQ Award ceremony at Belfast Castle on 20 June. It was great to see so many social workers from across Northern Ireland, from all sectors, receiving recognition for the dedication it takes to successfully complete a PQ Award.

Summer offer

We currently have a summer promotion, which means if you join NIASW now you won’t pay until 16 September 2012. Contact us or sign up online using the code “event 12”

Call for authors and articles

NIASW is keen to hear from anyone who would like to submit an article to PSW. Undertaking research? Do you have good practice to share? Have you something topical to write about? If so get in touch with k.goddard@basw.co.uk