SASW meets Carol Mochan MSP

Last Thursday, SASW Policy Officer Jonny Adamson visited parliament to meet with Labour MSP, Carol Mochan.

Ms Mochan has been a strong supporter of social work since she was elected. She submitted several questions to the Scottish Government challenging them on the Setting the Bar report findings, particularly around recruitment and retention issues.

She also raised with Scottish Ministers the need to encourage more people into social work, including public awareness campaigns to improve the profession’s visibility and more funding options for social work students.

On the back of these actions, we met with Ms Mochan to update her on the next phase of the Setting the Bar research and discuss ways we can progress campaigns in parliament to better support the profession.

We also looked at the National Care Service Bill and considered areas we might be able to work with Labour to lodge amendments to the Scottish Government’s proposals.

It’s clear to us that the Bill in its current form doesn’t deliver what social work needs. SASW is therefore committed to working across the political divide to make sure we get this legislation right.

Our five asks are:

  1. Ambitious and substantial reform of the role of social work to become a community-based profession where social workers have autonomy, time, and resources to build relationships and trust with people who need support. One that is accessible to all of us when we need support and is trusted by the public, our employers, and government.
  2. A National Social Work Agency with responsibility for, training and development, recruitment and retention, workforce planning, for setting social work pay and conditions and developing a clear career pathway.
  3. All social work specialisms must be included within the proposals. Leaving out children’s and justice services would risk fragmenting the profession and segment services that need to work together for individuals, families and communities.
  4. Better working conditions. Social workers have unmanageable caseloads and the profession is under-resourced and under-staffed. This is leading to burnt-out, exhaustion and poor morale.
  5. A Commitment to properly resource the NCS.

We’re grateful to Ms Mochan and her team for continuing to proactively engage with us and support our work. If you would like to discuss any of our policy, campaign or public affairs work further, please contact jonny.adamson@basw.co.uk