An official taskforce made a series of recommendations aimed at improving the status of the social work profession. The criteria governing the calibre of those entering social work education and training would be strengthened. The first ever national college would be established for the profession. Social workers would need a licence to practise. Pay would be improved for the most experienced front-line staff. The government said that it accepted the recommendations in full.
Source: Social Work Task Force, Building a Safe, Confident Future, Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department of Health
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | DCSF press release | CWDC press release | GSCC press release | Barnardos press release | REC press release | People Management report | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Dec
A report called on local authorities, health trusts, and care providers in England to work with housing organizations in a more integrated way. It set out how better partnership working could help support care closer to home, give people more independence, and deliver greater efficiencies.
Source: Sarah Davis, Jeremy Porteus and Clare Skidmore, Housing, Health and Care, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | CIH press release | Children & Young People Now report | Inside Housing report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Dec
A new book examined how religion and related beliefs affected the needs and perceptions of social care practitioners, service users, and the support networks available to them. Social workers needed to understand these phenomena, so that they could became more confident in challenging discriminatory and oppressive practices.
Source: Sheila Furness and Philip Gilligan, Religion, Belief and Social Work: Making a difference, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Nov
The government began consultation on measures required to prepare the National Health Service and social care services in England for the age discrimination requirements in the Equality Bill.
Source: Age Equality in Health and Social Care, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document | DH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Nov
The Scottish Government announced a new scheme designed to improve safeguards for vulnerable groups, and at the same time end the need for people to complete detailed application forms every time a disclosure check was required.
Source: Press release 10 November 2009, Scottish Government (0131 556 8400)
Links: SG press release | Draft regulations | BBC report
Date: 2009-Nov
An article challenged the terms used to describe the relationship between those who assessed and commissioned social services and those who were the recipient of those services. 'Service user' (the most popular term) was increasingly problematic and not adequate to describe the complexities of the service-recipient relationship.
Source: Hugh McLaughlin, 'What's in a name: "client", "patient", "customer", "consumer", "expert by experience", "service user" – what's next?', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 39 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Sep
The government announced a review of the vetting and barring scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults. It asked the chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority to examine whether the government had 'got the balance right' in defining what activities should and should not be covered by the scheme.
Source: Letter to Barry Sheerman MP (Chair of the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee) 14 September 2009, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Letter | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Sep
An article examined the independent review of social work in Scotland, and what had happened to social work since publication of its report in 2006. The report reflected the problems that beset social work, and offered ways forward that merited consideration: but both the report, and the ensuing change programme, had failed to critically appraise the political and social forces that had undermined the status of welfare professionals and marginalized service users.
Source: Anne Ritchie, 'Changing Lives: critical reflections on the social work change programme for Scotland', Critical Social Policy, Volume 29 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Aug
An article examined the effect on voluntary sector workers of attempts to encourage long-term collaborative contracting relationships, designed to protect the employment conditions of staff, when outsourcing public services. It concluded that, in terms of bringing income security to the voluntary sector and stability to employment terms and conditions, these efforts had been unsuccessful.
Source: Ian Cunningham and Philip James, 'The outsourcing of social care in Britain: what does it mean for voluntary sector workers?', Work, Employment and Society, Volume 23 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined the concept of the 'digital divide' and its relation to social exclusion, focusing on the implications for social work and social care.
Source: Jan Steyaert and Nick Gould, 'Social work and the changing face of the digital divide', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 39 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that migrant care workers were facing 'widespread discrimination in pay and working conditions' and hostility from some older people, despite the sector's increasing dependence on them.
Source: Alessio Cangiano, Isabel Shutes, Sarah Spencer and George Leeson, Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Research findings in the United Kingdom, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society/University of Oxford (01865 274711)
Links: Report | Summary | Oxford University press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that personalization of care services could 'undermine' specialist housing provision for older people. As commissioners move away from block contracts towards personal budgets, residents could be left without the on-site care element due to their lack of collective bargaining power.
Source: Sarah Vallelly and Jill Manthorpe, Building Choices Part 2: Getting Personal – The impact of personalisation on older people's housing, Housing 21 (0370 192 4000)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Jun
The Welsh Assembly Government introduced a measure designed to place a £50 per week cap on charges for non-residential social care services.
Source: Proposed Social Care Charges (Wales) Measure, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Measure | Explanatory notes | WAG press release | WalesOnline report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined the risks that some third sector organizations perceived from personal budgets – as well as the opportunities for them to gain greater independence from local authorities, take on new roles, expand the types of services offered, and enjoy increased demand.
Source: David Challis, Caroline Glendinning, Craig Dearden-Phillips, Lesley Anne Murphy and Steven Rose, The Impact of Personal Budgets on Third Sector Providers of Social Care, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-May
The government published the first report of the Social Work Task Force. The report (in the form of a letter) set out the Task Force's advice on implementing Lord Laming's recommendations on child protection, including advice on the future of the Integrated Children's System.
Source: Letter 5 May 2009, Social Work Task Force/Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Letter | DCSF press release | Community Care report (1) | Community Care report (2)
Date: 2009-May
A new book examined the radical tradition in social work, and showed how it could be developed in a contemporary setting.
Source: Iain Ferguson and Rona Woodward, Radical Social Work in Practice: Making a difference, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-May
A new book summarized the existing evidence relating to direct payments and personal budgets in social care, and examined the implications for policy and practice.
Source: Jon Glasby and Rosemary Littlechild, Direct Payments and Personal Budgets: Putting personalisation into practice, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-May
An article examined the operation of the vetting and barring scheme (POVA – Protection of Vulnerable Adults) that was designed to provide greater assurance about the quality of social care for adults in England and Wales.
Source: Shereen Hussein et al., 'Articulating the improvement of care standards: the operation of a barring and vetting scheme in social care', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 38 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A paper examined the issues involved in achieving closer integration of health and social care.
Source: Chris Ham, Only Connect: Policy options for integrating health and social care, Nuffield Trust (020 631 8450)
Links: Paper
Date: 2009-Apr
A report examined existing activity and thinking on information, advice, and advocacy in relation to the delivery of adult social care services.
Source: Transforming Adult Social Care: Access to information, advice and advocacy, Improvement and Development Agency (020 7296 6693)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
A briefing paper examined co-production in the provision of adult social care. Co-production emphasized that people were not passive recipients of services, and had assets and expertise that could help improve services.
Source: Catherine Needham, Co-production: An emerging evidence base for adult social care transformation, Research Briefing 31, Social Care Institute for Excellence (020 7089 6840) Links: Briefing
Date: 2009-Mar
A report said that individual budgets could greatly improve carers' quality of life when compared with carers of people using conventional social services. They could allow carers more control and flexibility in their daily routines; and some carers said that individual budgets also improved quality of life for the person they were looking after.
Source: Caroline Glendinning et al., The Individual Budgets Pilot Projects: Impacts and Outcomes for Carers, Working Paper 1902, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608) and Personal Social Services Research Unit/University of Kent
Links: Report | Summary | DH press release | Carers UK press release
Date: 2009-Feb
An article examined attempts to reduce the number of patients whose discharge from hospital was delayed, using financial incentives. There was 'little evidence' to support the policy. There were a number of pressures to reduce the time patients spent in hospital, including fewer beds and increasing numbers of admissions. There were few good data available to monitor the impact of earlier discharge, such as on the quality and availability of post-discharge care.
Source: Sylvia Godden, David McCoy and Allyson Pollock, 'Policy on the rebound: trends and causes of delayed discharges in the NHS', Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 102 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2009-Jan