Role of the Social Worker: Protection of
Title
UNISON Scotland's response to the Scottish Social
Services Council Consultation on: The Role of the Social Worker:
Protection of Title
August 2005
1. INTRODUCTION
UNISON Scotland welcomes the approach being taken
by the 21st Century Review to the question of protection
of title. We support the need to be clear about the tasks that
a Registered Social Worker and only a Registered Social Worker
can carry out. At the same time we support the principle that
the Registered Social Worker should be responsible and accountable
for their own professional practice. Reference is made to the
knowledge base and to the professional training of Social Workers
in the paper. It would be useful to expand on this to give a brief
explanation of the breadth of the pre-qualification education
and the post-qualification continuous professional development.
It may be useful to refer to other sources for details.
5. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The primary responsibility of the Registered
Social Worker
UNISON accepts that the primary role of Registered
Social Workers is the protection and promotion of the welfare
of children, vulnerable adults and the promotion of the welfare
of communities in accordance with the Scottish Social Services
Council's Code of Practice for Social Service Workers. However,
we believe it is important to emphasise that this responsibility
is shared by all Social Service workers and should be recognised
as a responsibility of society as a whole. This would include
Government, political parties, other professionals, the media
and the general public.
At the same time Registered Social Workers have
a responsibility to empower individuals, even when this involves
a degree of risk. Registered Social Workers must be protected
in these circumstances and be empowered themselves to challenge
the "risk averse" culture of various agencies including
their own.
Accountability of the Registered Social Worker
We support the principle that Registered Social
Workers must take personal responsibility for their practice and
be professionally accountable. However, it is important in this
context to note that the Registered Social Worker often cannot
be held accountable for the outcomes of a particular care plan
or strategy as these are dependent on a range of other factors
- available resources, additional training, the inputs of other
professionals and service providers, users choice etc.
In order to be able to be professionally accountable,
and therefore take responsibility for practice, a Registered Social
Worker needs to be enabled to use their knowledge and expertise
to make judgements and decisions for which they are to be held
accountable. This includes a variety of measures such as acceptable
workload (possibly measured through formalised and negotiated
workload management schemes), professional support (separate from
workload management) and training as well as a management culture
that encourages reflection rather than blame. This requires management
(and politicians) to be equally accountable for their decisions
and supportive to staff.
There is concern that Registered Social Workers
are already held to be solely responsible when things go wrong
and that they are held to account when other professionals have
been involved, or when resources were in short supply, when cuts
have been made and where management has failed to ensure reasonable
workloads.
Professional Supervision of Registered Social
Workers
We welcome the clear statement about the access
to professional consultation, etc. from appropriate, experienced
Registered Social Workers. However we believe that it is important
to emphasise that effective professional supervision is essential
to empower Registered Social Workers to fully develop their role.
Professional Supervision would include professional consultation,
support and advice but would also include guidance on attaining
personal targets for professional development, clarification on
organisational policies, procedures and resources. It would allow
opportunities to monitor the Registered Social Worker's workload
with an ability to vary this if appropriate. In certain circumstances
the Registered Social Worker may require to be offered professional
consultation separate from supervision.
Level of complexity and responsibility
We fully support this statement and believe that
there are opportunities presented by the 21st Century
Review to develop a national framework for pay linked to continuous
professional development and the recognised role of a Registered
Social Worker.
6. ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE REGISTERED SOCIAL
WORKER
In regard to the role of a Registered Social Worker
as Accountable Officer it is accepted that the Registered Social
Worker will be accountable for cases they are responsible for
including where assessments and decisions have been based upon
information received from colleagues and other professionals.
However all other colleagues and professionals must continue to
be responsible for the information and assistance they provide
to the Registered Social Worker. It is not always possible for
the Registered Social Worker to check information from others,
particularly other professionals.
Accountable Officer
It is accepted that Registered Social Worker will
be accountable for "cases" they are responsible for
including where assessments and decisions have been based upon
information and assistance from colleagues and other professionals.
A part of the role of the Registered Social Worker is to co-ordinate
and oversee the contribution of others. However, all other colleagues
and professionals must be responsible for the information and
assistance they provide to the Registered Social Worker. It is
not always possible for the Registered Social Worker to check
information from others, particularly when working with other
professionals.
Lead Officer
We would emphasise that designating a Registered
Social Worker as a Lead Officer does not mean they would take
a line management responsibility for other professionals.
The emphasis on employing organisations having effective
systems, training, support and resources available is welcome.
7. DUTIES THAT SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT BY A
REGISTERED SOCIAL WORKER
Care and Protection
This heading should read "Child Care
and Protection"
We agree that the duties listed in the paper are
the correct ones.
However within Adult Community Care we believe
that there should be some more explanation in relation to "most
vulnerable adults" in the context of risk. We believe it
would be more helpful to refer to at "risk of abuse"
rather than "significant harm" as harm can mean due
to environmental factors or physical disability when it would
be more appropriate to involve an Occupational Therapist or other
professional than a Registered Social Worker.
Children looked after and accommodated
We require clarification of whether this includes
children under home supervision
8. ADDITIONAL PROTECTED FUNCTIONS OF THE REGISTERED
SOCIAL WORKER
We agree with these proposals in relation to the
positions of Chief Social Work Officer, as a role that can prevail
within local authorities on matters of professional social work,
and the Chief Inspector of the Social Work Inspections Agency
and the proposals in relation to education and training.
CONCLUSION
UNISON agrees with the view that clearly laying
out what only a Registered Social Worker should do will strengthen
the professional identity of social workers. However, it is important
that when discussing the position of Registered Social Workers
in work settings - within Social Work teams, joint and integrated
working and specialist roles, care is taken not to restrict Registered
Social Workers to the tasks which are to be protected. Registered
Social Workers' abilities and the contribution they make are far
wider.
Stephen Smellie
Chair of Social Work Issues Group
Diane Anderson
Organising Assistant
August 2005
