We are delighted that Ian Rees (Consultant Social Worker, Neath Port Talbot Local Authority)will be one of our keynote speakers at our Tomorrow’s World Annual Conference in Cardiff, 19 March 2025! His session will look at:
“Today the social worker can profit by the labours of his predecessor, the ground has been explored and mapped out. Research has been made into almost every phase of poverty, and many of its causes have been elucidated." - Clement Attlee (1920)
Attlee who first called for a ‘Social Services’, not the Social Services we know today but an army of citizens mobilized to help resolve the challenges of social deprivation that they faced within their own community.
He argued that these Social Workers would offer a different philosophy of practice to the traditional philanthropic charities, by offering a model of Social Work that empowered people to become self-reliant and not dependent on the patronage of donations.
Over the 100 years since Clement Attlee made the above observation, research about poverty has provided overwhelming evidence about the damage poverty has on children, on families and on their communities. But how well do we understand the impact of poverty on the families we support?
The Welsh Government also places a strong emphasis on prevention and coproduction, something Attlee would have fully endorsed, but how well does Social Work engage in Prevention and Coproduction?
About Ian
Ian Rees is a Consultant Social Worker who qualified in 1989, initially working in the substance misuse field, which included supporting developing drug services in the Czech Republic. Outside Social Work, he has produced two documentaries for BBC Wales as an independent film maker.
In his current role in Neath Port Talbot, Ian has sort to improve services for Neath Port Talbot’s Romani and traveller community, along with promoting better knowledge mobilisation and service partnerships between academics and practitioners.
This has included supporting the development of an evidence informed Neglect Assessment Tool, a Parent Advocacy Support Group (PAN) and the use lived experience stories to inform practice using the Most Significant Change technique.
