Social workers send out SOS - Give us new contract so we can practice safely

Stressed out social workers are today sending out an SOS to MPs and the public to back their campaign for a new contract for social workers. The contract has been drawn up after UNISON, the UK's biggest public sector union, and leading social work journal Community Care, joined forces in support of social workers. Alarming new evidence about the effects of spiraling caseloads on social workers and their clients prompted the union and the magazine to act. Social workers want the government and their employers to sign up to the contract because they cannot practice safely if they can't give enough time and attention to the people who need their help.Recent research* by both UNISON and Community Care revealed a bad situation getting worse. Social workers are struggling to keep track of the rising numbers of cases. They are bogged down by too much bureaucracy and don't have workable IT and admin back-up. As part of the campaign, UNISON and Community Care will be launching an E-petition while social workers will be sending the contract to their local MPs to get their support, and using social media to get the message out to as many people as possible. Helga Pile, UNISON national officer for social workers, said: "Children at risk, young people in care, frail older people, mental health patients, and the terminally ill are just some of the people who suffer when social workers don't have time to deal with their cases properly. Leaving people's needs to escalate, costs more in the long run and can lead to terrible tragedies."We're taking this campaign out there because social workers want the government and their employers to provide the minimum conditions for safe practice. A manageable caseload, the right to have their professional concerns heard and acted upon, the right to a minimum level of professional supervision and to keep their skills up-to-date - these are basic requirements that social workers should be able to expect. They know better than anyone how badly things can go wrong when workloads spiral out of control."SOS - the contract social workers needIn order to practice safely, and effectively, social workers should have a new contract with the government and with employers, that gives them: 1. The right to a manageable workload with a reasonable number and mix of cases. In high risk areas like child protection, mental health and older people's teams, we believe the Government should publish a recognised benchmark that practitioners can use to raise the alarm when caseloads are becoming too high.2. The right to have time off or get paid to compensate when excess hours are worked. 3. The right to raise professional concerns when workloads become unmanageable to the highest level of their organisation, for example to an elected member, board member or trustee. 4. The right to a minimum of monthly professional supervision from a qualified social worker of at least one and a half hours and more frequently for newly qualified social workers. 5. The right to 10% of working time to be available for continuing professional development and related activities like reflective practice, mentoring colleagues, supporting students and peer support.6. The right to a functioning IT system and adequate administrative support so that social workers can use their time on activity that requires their expertise.7. The right to safe working practices, which address the high risks social workers are exposed to from lone working, threats and attacks.8. The right for support to deal with stress and traumatic cases.9. The right to management training and realistic limits on the numbers of social workers any one manager is expected to supervise.10. The right to a clear definition of respective roles between assistant practitioners and qualified social workers so that there is clarity about who is responsible for cases* Research by UNISON and Community Care has found that caseloads are rising. A recent poll of over 600 readers found that more than four-fifths (82%) said their caseload has increased over the past year. 90% of social workers said high caseloads were getting in the way of them practising good social work. In another poll, three-quarters of members said the time they had to spend with each client was not sufficient to meet their needs. OFSTED's national social work practitioner survey from July 2010 painted a similar picture.The serious case review into the death of Khyra Ishaq uncovered the fact that her social worker had 50 allocated cases.UNISON is the biggest union representing social workers, with more than 40,000 social worker members. Community Care is the leading print and on-line publication read by social work practitioners.