SASW Meets Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP

Our National Director, Alison Bavidge met with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton to discuss our campaign to improve working conditions for social workers.

Since the Setting the Bar report was published, we’ve met with parliamentarians from across the political divide to highlight the findings to them. We’re also working with them to explore ways to challenge Scottish Ministers on the report and call for much-needed improvements, including around increasing workforce capacity.

We explained to Mr Cole-Hamilton the impact of high caseloads on the profession and the worryingly high number of social workers leaving within the first six years of qualifying. We also pointed out that the role of social work has been eroded over the years, meaning that the profession is one of crisis-response instead of community-based, early support.

We welcomed Mr Cole-Hamilton’s support from the Scottish Liberal Democrats for social workers and his assurance that they would raise these problems with the Scottish Government. These issues cannot wait to be resolved by a National Care Service and must be tackled immediately. He also agreed that more needs done to improve public perceptions and awareness of social work.

In addition, we will be discussing the National Care Service Bill with Mr Cole-Hamilton as it moves through parliament to see where we can work together on possible amendments. We’ll also identify opportunities to raise questions with Ministers in parliament to ensure this campaign stays on the Scottish Government’s radar.

If you would like to be kept updated on any of our policy and public affairs work, please contact jonny.adamson@basw.co.uk