Social workers turn to charity to help make ends meet

Social Workers’ Benevolent Trust is reporting a 60% rise in applications in the past year, by Simon Cole

Social workers are going into the red as pay cuts and wage freezes bite – and more are turning to charity for help.

Workers say they are foregoing holidays and struggling to pay for groceries and petrol.

A third of the professionals who took part in a survey by the British Association of Social Workers say they are in more debt than a year ago.

Four-fifths of those surveyed said their pay had been frozen, while 16% have had a pay cut. Many also reported rising costs; 40% reported reduced or axed car allowances and 18% said parking charges had been introduced where this was previously free.

More than a third of respondents said they were in more debt than a year ago.

The Social Workers’ Benevolent Trust, a small grant giving charity that supports social workers and their dependents who find themselves in financial difficulty, has seen a 60% rise in applications for help compared with last year.

The trust, which supports working or retired practitioners, often experiencing illness, disability, bereavement, relationship breakdown or loss of employment, finds itself facing its greatest challenges since it was established some 41 years ago.

A sharp decline in the availability of both permanent posts and work through social work agencies has seen greater numbers of social workers having difficulty finding work.

One applicant to the trust wrote:

    “I have been a social worker for over 25 years and following a period of sickness, I am trying to find work. There are no suitable jobs out there, although I look on a daily basis.”

Those challenges are quickly evident from a review of the basic facts: applications for assistance are up, the size of grants requested is up, and the number of grants given is up. But, until BASW members stepped in and voted unanimously to increase the levy from subscriptions that it pays to the trust, income was down on previous years.

Perhaps most worrying is the upsurge we have seen in the number of applicants to the trust who have turned to payday loans to help them manage their way through what many of them thought would be short term difficulties. As a result, many have ended up in a worse position, having extended such loans and becoming even more indebted.

While most loans of this type are legitimate regulated financial products, they come with exorbitant interest rates and often seem to end up accelerating the downward spiral of debt that some find themselves facing.

What the future will bring is uncertain but it is unlikely that the situation will improve quickly and so the trust must find further ways to increase its income to meet the increased demands on its limited resources. The additional funding from BASW members is most welcome and is a fantastic start but if we had more, we could help more.

The feedback we get from applicants to whom we make grants often conveys both their gratitude and their appreciation that their colleagues recognise that financial struggles and difficulties can visit any of us often with little or no warning, and with devastating effect.

Simon Cole chairs the Social Workers’ Benevolent Trust