SASW report - November 2014

For us at SASW, autumn is synonymous with the Mental Health Officers’ Annual Study Forum, traditionally held in the first week of October. Over 140 participants, including in excess of 120 social workers from 30 of our 32 local authorities, attended the event in Perth to learn with and from each other, exchange information and touch base on the developments in their field. The conference focused on how the professionalism of the workforce can be safeguarded or, indeed, even maintained in the face of the challenges workers are experiencing.

The Mental Health (Scotland) Bill will inevitably bring changes. The most significant challenges are: increases to caseloads and work levels; a lack of quality time to engage with users of services and the impact of service redesign and restructure on the autonomy of the MHOs. SASW is working with partners to identify a way forward with solutions informed by the views of practitioners.

Working with families: It was refreshing to hear the view of Terry Murphy, director of a company promoting the “Signs of Safety” approach in children and families’ work, particularly child protection, at an event attended in October. He said: “The experts in children’s services are the people who do the work”. Stressing the importance of “the worker knocking on the door of a house” approach was a reminder that processes and procedures do not make an intervention; it is people, families and communities that can enable the necessary support and assistance to ride the storm or make the changes. Signs of Safety is being rolled out in East Lothian, but there are other councils across Scotland where this model is being used, and the 18 councils represented at the seminar organised by East Lothian Council may well consider how it could work in their areas. We are mindful of the issues experienced within some councils south of the border, and it was inspirational to hear Angela Leitch, Chief Executive Officer of East Lothian Council who opened the annual conference, expressing clarity that child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults are extremely important.

Innovation: At the annual Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) conference we noted other innovative work going on in Renfrew and Aberdeenshire, where social workers within the PACE (Permanence and Care Excellence) programme are working on a “whole systems change” in permanence practice with the assistance of CELCIS. There are already signs of positive outcomes in reducing decisionmaking time and achieving better permanent placements for the child. Aberdeen Council gave a presentation on “Reclaiming social work”, another model of work which aims to enable better targeted and effective support and intervention. It is good to note these attempts at improvement, as long as they remain focused on best practice principles and are executed by a well-trained and well supported professional workforce. The people who stole the show on the CELCIS day were the young care leavers, whose brief, graphic sketches left the audience under no illusion of some of their experiences of being looked after away from home.

Tough times: Of great concern is the news that the next two years (and beyond) will bring even tougher conditions as councils are reporting on “black holes” of tens of millions in their budgets. Cuts in social care are already mooted and there is so little left to cut from. It does emphasise the need to maintain the momentum which started as part of the referendum. The University of Edinburgh and partners are organising an “Enlightened Nation – Scottish Perspectives on Social Welfare” event on Friday 28 November where this issue will no doubt feature.