Increasing Demand, Maximum Impact

Care Appointments spoke with Colin MacKenzie, President of ADSW and Aberdeenshire Council’s Housing and Social Work supremo…

As we look forward to the conclusion of the 21st Century Social Work Review group’s report to the Scottish Executive, what are your own medium to long-term hopes in terms of the positive changes that could come about as a result of this process?

“My aspiration for the outcome of the 21st Century Review is that we will see a fundamental shift towards capacity building for individual families and communities so that they are able to respond to the personal, social and demographic challenges that lie ahead.

“Social Work Services play a vital role in empowering vulnerable people to develop their full potential but we need to ensure that all parts of society and the public services work together if we are to respond to increasing demand and increasing expectations.

“I believe that you will clarify the role of registered social workers and will seek to ensure that this skill resource is targeted where they can have maximum impact.

“I hope that it will also call for investment in leadership and workforce development to ensure that we have the skilled people in place across the public services. Providing the Scottish Executive response is positive to the Review’s recommendations and commits the additional resources that will be required to implement them, we can look forward to improved outcomes for people who access services, empowered families and communities and a rejuvenated workforce.” {mospagebreak}

One of the principle points on the ADSW’s Advancing the Development of Social Work publication seeks an end to the “bidding wars for social workers and the establishment of an agreed national framework that governs the pay and conditions for social workers”. How does the ADSW propose that this is structured and, importantly, agreed upon by all parties?

“In advancing the development of social work services, the Association has drawn attention to the severe national shortage of social workers, which has led to major difficulties for many local authority social work services. Key services in some authorities have been operating with up to 40% vacancies, impacting on their ability to provide core services and meet critical objectives. This has led to increasing competition between authorities to recruit and maintain staff and many council’s have taken a number of local initiatives, including golden hello’s and golden handcuffs, thus creating a bidding war for staff.

“This impacts not only on local authorities but also on voluntary organisations that involve social workers. The legacy of the bidding wars is a patchwork of salaries and allowances that reflect the initiative taken by individual employers, each of which moves us further from the national model.

“The 21st Century Review is anticipating future growth in the demand for social work services and to properly prepare the workforce to meet this demand, it is vital that a national framework is developed which properly recognises and rewards social workers for their experience, skills and specialist knowledge. The Association has discussed this issue with both the Scottish Executive and COSLA and it is encouraging that COSLA has started work on the development of a national framework and we look forward to contributing to this work.”{mospagebreak}

The publication also talks about the development of a Social Services workforce. How do the ADSW believe this would best be achieved? What would have to happen that is not already in place, what new processes, practices and initiatives would need to be developed?

“The Social Services workforce is diverse and is spread across both the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. For social workers, the introduction of the new Honours Degree and the development of practice learning will play a vital role in preparing these staff for the challenges that lie ahead. The bulk of social work services are not delivered by registered social workers and therefore the development of a social care workforce is as important as that of qualified social workers.

“The gradual registration of the social services workforce will require training and skill development. This process is protracted however, and we need to move more quickly to ensure all staff receive effective and structured induction programmes, regular and formal supervision and that they participate in an annual development review.

“The Association’s Supporting Front Line Staff initiative provides employers with a toolkit to ensure that staff are well managed and supported and thereby become employers of choice.
“In addition, we need to invest in management and leadership development across the public sector.”{mospagebreak}

Advancing the Development of Social Work also calls for the creation of a National Social Work Forum and the appointment of a Minister with overall responsibility for Social Work in Scotland. In terms of the backroom civil service team that would advise this minister and be responsibility for coordinating the implementation of policies cross the country, do the ADSW envisage that this department should be staffed with social work professionals or at least people with working experience of the sector? Surely this wouldn’t be a job for civil servants whose last post may have been in transport or agriculture?

“This forum will be a fundamental element in ensuring that the Education, Health and Justice Departments have adequate funding available to them to implement their various initiatives and that people wherever they live can expect common standards of service delivery.

“The forum’s membership should include representatives from people who access services, COSLA, ADSW and stakeholders from across the sector. It is essential that the civil servants who advise and support the forum have appropriate qualifications and experience. The Chief Inspector of SWIA should certainly have a key role and this would be an appropriate time for the civil service practice of developing people in generalist roles, although the time is now right to also have specialist posts filled by people with appropriate professional qualifications in critical areas such as social work.”{mospagebreak}

ADSW are questioning whether Scotland needs all of the regulatory and inspection bodies currently operating to ensure a high quality of service provision. With this in mind, what is the ADSW view on what type of body should replace the existing groups – one overarching organisation composed of elements of those currently operating – a hybrid super-regulator, if you will? Or something different?

“At our Annual Conference in May of last year, we provided a session on audit and inspection where 4 of the 7 main players were invited to present how they intended to work together in the future. I believe it clearly demonstrated that unless these agencies co-ordinate their inspection and audit activities, service delivery will be severely disrupted and the losers will be the people who access our services.

“Effective scrutiny is an essential part of delivering public services, but there needs to be a careful consideration on the nature and extent of all the activities these bodies generate in order to avoid wasteful duplication and ensure value for money. These bodies must examine the burden they impose on providers in terms of time and bureaucracy and should be required to co-ordinate their activities in respect of any provider to ensure the most effective use of time and effort.”