Social workers ‘unsure on managing violent offenders’

Management of violent offenders is inconsistent and underdeveloped in parts of Scotland and some social work departments don’t know if work with offenders is effective, according to inspectors.

In some local authorities, social workers are unclear about whether their role is to reduce the risk of reoffending or the risk of harm to the public, it was claimed at the launch of an overview report from the Social Work Inspection Agency.

Deputy chief inspector Gill Ottley said that assessing the risk to the public from former violent offenders and sex offenders was an important and undervalued part of social work. However, she said that while the risk assessment of sex offenders was well developed, management and supervision of violent offenders needed more attention.

“Two out of three plans for serious violent offenders didn’t have any focus on risk management,” she said.

Ms Ottley said some social work departments didn’t gather information on whether their interventions managed to prevent reoffending or not. In others there was confusion over whether their primary responsibility was to protect the public from harm from violent offenders, or prevent those offenders from being reconvicted.

Inspectors said that, overall, social work across the country was of a good standard, reliable and improving, while service users were highly satisfied. Their report covers four years of inspections from SWIA since the agency was launched in 2005 and highlights examples of good practice from every part of the country.

However, it also draws attention to significant financial problems ahead in services for children and older people.

Inspectors said that services for older people were “inadequate to meet the scale of need”, particularly in relation to increasing numbers suffering from dementia.

They also warned of a significant and accelerating increase in the number of children in care, particularly younger children.

Ms Ottley said the rise was partly due to drug addiction. “Almost all councils agreed that there were increasing concerns about the negative impact of drug misuse on parenting and the possible risks children might be exposed to as a result.”

Chief social work inspector Alexis Jay said: “Social work services are now faced with rising demands against a background of severe constraints on resources. This makes it all the more important that resources are used in the most effective and efficient ways possible.”

Councillor Ronnie McColl, Cosla’s health and wellbeing spokesman said that councils would strive to improve services, but needed the Scottish and UK governments to work with them to address underlying social and demographic problems.

Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing said the report showed multi-agency arrangements to manage sex offenders were being successful. “The challenge for everyone is to help ensure that good local practice becomes good national practice,” he added.