Report on homelessness highlights ‘dangerous thinking’ about adult care

BASW has reacted with ‘dismay but not surprise’ to a new report that revealed housing support workers are being forced to fill the gap left by adult social workers and undertake a range of tasks that they are neither qualified nor trained for.

According to the report, ‘Tackling homelessness and exclusion: Understanding complex lives’, published last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, workers taking on primary responsibility for supporting homeless people with complex needs feel isolated and out of their depth.

The report, compiled from the responses of over 1000 service users, stated: ‘It has been argued that housing support workers are effectively filling the vacuum that has been left by the retreat of social workers from “direct work” with adults.’

Ruth Cartwright, BASW England manager, said: “ The issue of social workers’ diminishing role in adult services has been going on for years, with potentially devastating consequences.”

Ms Cartwright added: “Although the problem is complex, central to the issue is the fact that adult social work is simply not properly understood. There is an erroneous belief that adult care is not complex and can therefore be carried out by less qualified (and often cheaper) staff.”

Highlighting the importance of direct working, Ms Cartwright continued: “ social workers have a knowledge of human behaviour, family dynamics, cultural concerns and safeguarding issues. They are committed to foster solutions without encouraging dependency – something which is vital when addressing the various contributing factors that lead to homelessness.”

BASW is committed to addressing these issues and is currently involved in a number of policy making forums alongside Paul Burstow, minister of state for the Department of Health and Dave Behan, director general of social care.