Scottish Social Services Strategic Forum Launch

On World Social Work Day, 17 March this year, SASW is part of a group of partners who are launching the Scottish Social Services Strategy for the next five years. The launch will take place in Edinburgh; all partners have been provided with ten invitations and we are pleased to have members from across Scotland, as well as SASW Committee members attending on the day. The Strategy sets the direction of travel, and has been a truly collaborative exercise between representatives from the government departments, private sector, voluntary sector, local authorities, regulatory bodies (such as SSSC and Care inspectorate), Unison and associations including CCPS, COSLA, and SASW. There has also been a series of wider consultations via workshops and within other settings. This Strategy is the foundation for a great deal more activity and work intended to put actions under the headline objectives, and to decide on outcomes which will need direct input from users of services and the general public.

The Office of the Chief Social Work Advisor to the Scottish Government has co-ordinated the Strategy, and Alan Baird met with a number of SASW members to talk about (what was then) the draft document on 5 February. SASW members highlighted the importance of emphasising the professional identity of social work, our unique role in ensuring the human rights of service users and their families were met, and the need to set any Strategy clearly within a context of the everyday reality in Scotland today. We reinforced the local authority duties within section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, an important reminder of legislation which shaped our input and remains in force and relevant today. Our members are working within an environment of increased poverty and hardship, where many users of our services are affected by austerity measures. We had a frank, but positive exchange of views, and were most appreciative of Alan’s time and his constructive engagement with our discussion.

SASW will play its part within the development of the Strategy; we aim to be positive and strong about the invaluable role social work will play within the exercise. Social workers may be small in numbers within the context of: “191.000 social services workers”, but as a proud profession with protection of title, and as part of an international community, we play an essential part, so your views are most welcome!