BASW Cymru Director and BASW Interim CEO, Prof. Sam Baron, was joined at the Senedd by Dr Shawn Major from SWU and other members of the BASW Cymru team as they took their campaign to improve Working Conditions for Social Workers in Wales to the Senedd. We were delighted to have Andrew Pennington and Mandy-Jane Lace from the BASW Cymru National Standing Committee also in attendance.
The drop-in event for Members of Senedd and their staff was kindly sponsored Jane Dodds MS and it gave us an invaluable opportunity to highlight the key asks of our campaign to those legislators who have the power to affect change for social work professionals in Wales.
We called upon Members of Senedd and the next Welsh Government to support social workers by:
- Supporting Social Workers to influence positive change by ensuring that they are key stakeholders in reform and policy processes and are active in representing the profession, their practices and the work they do in all areas, including the media.
- Funding social work to meet society's needs - ensure social work services are fully funded to enable social workers to undertake their role effectively and safely; require Nation governments to deliver sustainable financial investment in social work incentivising parity of pay, transparent and fair pay frameworks and paid overtime; and increase financial support for students entering the profession.
- Fair employment practices for social workers - to be respected, valued and recognised for their valuable work in organisations and society; employment practices that support their complex role; and to have time to practice relationship based practice, the effective cornerstone to support individuals, families and communities.
- Good workplace wellbeing for social workers - workplace wellbeing matters; help to ensure employers have identifiable wellbeing. Supporting the diverse needs of their workforce, protecting rights defined under the Equality Act. Workplaces should be free from bullying, harassment and discrimination with protection against aggression and violence.
This was an excellent event and we met a number of MSs from all the political parties in Wales and we shared with them your experiences and insights as we worked to win support from across the political spectrum for our campaign.
If you want to help us with our campaign, please contact your local MS and draw their attention to our asks. Email our Political Affairs Lead, Kerri Prince on kerri.prince@baw.co.uk for more information.
