BASW and SWU meet with Julie Morgan AM

The ongoing work to improve working conditions for social workers made another positive impact today as BASW Cymru National director, Allison Hulmes, and SWU general secretary, John McGowan, met with Julie Morgan AM - Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services.

The duo visited the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff where they had the opportunity to highlight the findings from the recent BASW & SWU commissioned-Bath Spa University survey of 3421 social workers on stress and working conditions.

A productive meeting with plenty of discussion on the current situation of high caseloads and depletion of resources, and also what improvements are needed, led to an agreement from Morgan that she will respond with a plan of how she can assist BASW and SWU, and that she would raise greater awareness amongst her colleagues.

“We are very grateful to Julie Morgan AM for making this opportunity to speak with BASW Cymru and SWU about the pressures on social workers in Wales, pressures which have intensified over the last 10 years,” said Allison Hulmes.

“The working conditions for social workers in Wales must be addressed if the profession is to realise its true potential as a transformative workforce making a difference to the most vulnerable members of our society.”

She added: “Social work in Wales is key to realising the ambitions as set out in ‘A Healthier Wales’ and we must be given the opportunity and parity with other professions in order to do so.”

Speaking about what needs to change, John said: “Some of the best protections from the impact of high turnover of staff are manageable caseloads and high quality, regular and reflective supervision from an experienced manager, as well as improving administrative processes to enable for more direct work from social workers.”

He added: “However, these measures are harder to achieve against a backdrop of funding cuts and an increasing number of people in need of help and support.”