“Resource social care, tackle poverty and work with us to make urgent change”
Ruth Allen CEO BASW“We acknowledge that the new government faces significant challenges and will have desperately difficult decisions to make. However, the problems our profession and society face run deep, and requires bold and immediate actions to address. It really is time to get it right.
Responding to the outcome of the UK General Election, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and the Social Workers Union (SWU) are urging the new government to work with us to “hit the ground running” in improving social work and social care.
Many areas of children’s services have been stuck in crisis mode for far too long, with burnt-out social workers having too many caseloads while being under-resourced. Adult services are facing similar increasing levels of demand, while mental health services in England requires reform.
BASW’s manifesto- ‘It’s Time to Get it Right’- outlines 40 policy targets for the government to deliver in the new parliament. These proposals come from findings from BASW’s annual survey of the UK social work profession and feedback from members and people with lived experience of social work and social care services.
BASW and SWU are now determined to turn these critical asks into a reality by engaging in discussions with the new government at the earliest opportunity, insisting that social workers and people the profession supports must be at the forefront of their plans from day one.
BASW CEO Ruth Allen said:
“The voice of social work is woven throughout our manifesto, making a firm and unconditional case to politicians for change.
“We acknowledge that the new government faces significant challenges and will have desperately difficult decisions to make. However, the problems our profession and society face run deep, and requires bold and immediate actions to address. It really is time to get it right.
“From better resourcing of social work and funding of social care, to measures that alleviate poverty, reform mental health provision, protect human rights, and much more. Ministers must hit the ground running, and BASW will be working hard to influence and hold them to account.”
SWU General Secretary, John McGowan added:
“After fourteen years of deeply entrenched austerity wrecking public services and making people’s lives harder, the country is crying out for better.
“Social work has been at the sharp end of poor political choices that has plunged our profession into a recruitment and retention crisis and led to a decline in working conditions, while simultaneously increasing demand on services as communities become worse off.
“We hear from members everyday about the toll this is taking, and the buck stops at those in power with the responsibility to fix it. This is the strong case we’ll be making to the new government over the days, weeks and months ahead.”
