One Deal for Social Work Campaign supported by SWU
The UK’s only specialist social work union, the Social Workers Union (SWU) has thrown its weight behind a campaign for national terms and conditions for social workers in Scotland.
SASW recently launched a new campaign, One Deal for Social Work, which calls for a national approach to terms and conditions for social workers in Scotland. SWU recognises the importance of this campaign and is giving SASW its immediate support to achieve its aims in full.
SWU has joined SASW in calling for a national approach to pay and conditions which must include:
- A dedicated local government job family for pay and conditions for social work.
- A consistent framework for pay that allows for rural weightings and short-term initiatives in areas that are hard to recruit to.
- Pay recognition/pay enhancements for additional qualifications and responsibilities.
- A national maximum caseload with the expectation that cases are equally split between early support/standard/complex.
- A reduction in administrative burden to enable social workers to spend more time with people.
- Reflective supervision from a qualified social worker every 6 weeks as a minimum, distinct from case supervision provided by a line manager.
- At least 5 days/35hrs formal training each year.
- Flexible working that meets the needs of social workers and our communities.
- Paid overtime if social workers need to do more than their contracted hours, in order to keep people safe.
General Secretary of SWU, John McGowanThose who work in the social work sector are incredibly committed to their work, to maintaining the highest of standards for service users and, for the most part, they want to find a way to remain working in social work. However, positive working conditions and wellbeing along with a national approach to pay and conditions are necessary; not only to keep social workers in posts but to encourage further recruitment into our profession which is urgently needed.
If this is not addressed then we will be facing a crisis fuelled by the loss of skilled, well trained and necessary staff who impact daily on our lives. I look forward to supporting SASW in this campaign.
National Director of SASW, Alison BavidgeI am immensely grateful to SWU for backing this campaign. Having SWU’s support is a massive boost for social work in Scotland.
As the UK’s only specialised social work union, their backing shows their understanding of the issues social workers in Scotland are facing and should be an example to all unions who have social work members.
