College chair optimistic about the future of social work

The College of Social Work celebrated a milestone this week in holding its first annual members’ meeting and conference.

Social workers from across the sector packed the conference event to learn about current developments within the profession and to contribute enthusiastically to discussions over practice improvement and how The College needs to meet the challenges ahead.

Addressing College members at the annual members meeting before the conference, Chair Jo Cleary (pictured) said: “This is truly a milestone for social work and for our college. It is thanks to all of you here, and to the many others who haven’t been able to come today, that we have a college.

“If there was ever a time when social work is needed, it is now – when communities, families, children and carers are feeling unprecedented stress. People need social workers and they need what we can offer.

“The future of social work is in our hands. Our time is now”

She said just two years after launch and with the continued support of its growing number of members The College is already helping social workers meet many obstacles they face, including challenging scapegoating in the media and using opportunities in the Care Bill and Children and Families Bill to “reassert the contribution of social work”.

Looking to the future Jo Cleary said The College will be encouraging even more membership involvement to continue its work of supporting excellent practice, pushing for research evidence on the impact of social work on people’s lives, and seeking further partnerships with service users, educators, employers, professional organisations and Government.

Jo Cleary said: “I am optimistic about our future in spite of the impact of the public sector reductions. We have always been a resilient and tenacious profession.”

Conference speakers spoke passionately about their vision for the future of the profession and the important role of The College as a catalyst for further positive change and professional improvement.

Chief social worker for children Isabelle Trowler spoke of a need to concentrate resources on monitoring less and proactively intervening more to help struggling families. She said fundamental change was needed in children’s services to put an end to a “conveyor belt attitude” to statutory social work which was very demotivating for social workers.

“We have myriad ‘watchers’ in the system so that we constantly observe, monitor and report failure [by professionals].  The amount of resource that goes into ‘watching’ is colossal and I would ask whether we should be rethinking how we use that valuable resource.

“We need to watch a little less and do a little more.” She spoke of the need for “root and branch redesign” of the system in order to provide families with the support they need.

This view was shared by Lord Victor Adebowale, who spoke of the growing importance of the role of social work and the need for social workers to prioritise needs of service users over bureaucracy.

“I think that there will be a renaissance in social work led by the people sitting in this room. You know why I think that? Because I think we’re coming full circle. We’re realising that society needs the experts. We need those networks. We need those people who understand how we actually create society, how communities work together.”

Chief social worker for adults Lyn Romeo urged social workers to get involved with The College to support improvements to social work education and continuous professional development, provide positive stories around social work, influence national government policy, especially around services integration and the Care Bill and help public understanding of the role of the profession.

Lyn Romeo said: “I am really delighted to be here today and I think it is fantastic that there are so many people here. One of the important things is that we really grow and strengthen this college. We are the professional body for social work now and we really need to make sure that we provide really strong confident leadership and that we can provide the support and challenge that social workers need out there doing what is very, very valuable work.

“Social workers need to grasp this opportunity to be at the heart of the transformation of health and social care. With strong leadership in place and the focus on producing confident, competent social workers, I believe we can be at the forefront of these exciting, challenging reforms.”

Care Minister Norman Lamb, who attended an evening reception, said the Care Bill currently going through Parliament is an opportunity to “revolutionise the way we care for people” and social workers had a crucial part to play.

Norman Lamb said: “The Care Bill will focus and strengthen the unique contribution social workers offer. The role of social workers will be vital.”

He paid tribute to The College and said that it had begun to offer a “strong and unified voice” for social work.  He said the College’s Professional Capabilities Framework would guarantee a high standard of social work across the country and principal social workers were in place, ensuring the quality of social work remains high.

“I look forward to working with The College as you lead and guide on change,” he said.