"Up To Standard?" - What should your employer be doing to support Social Workers?

Those Social Workers (and other Social Care staff) struggling to cope with the demands of working under unreasonable caseloads and ridiculous hours might want to take a look at the following link to the UNISON website; www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/20748.pdf

The "Up to Standard?" Branch Guide, provides advice to activists and to Branches on using the, "Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England," to inform negotiations and dispute resolution to supprt UNISON members working at the sharp end in both Children's & Adults Social Care.

Particularly now, with a formal, "Dispute," lodged in support of Social Workers and Social Care Assistants in TFS East (Vermuyden) and TFS West (Martinwells) over the unsustainable workloads and the continuing expectation that UNISON members (and others) will work all the hours God sends to shore up a system creaking under the strain, these, "Standards," are massively important.

The real problem is shortage of staffing and under-resourcing for all teams and, for an increasing number of staff the solution seems to be to look for work elsewhere with less pressure and better support. All of this, taken together with DMBC's arrogance and determination to impose pay cuts to hard-pressed workers and it doesn't take a, "Rocket Scientist," to figure out that recruitment and retention of committed Social Care staff will get more and more difficult.

You might also want to take a glance at the following, "short guide," for Social Workers - your comments would be gratefully received. (just click on the image to enlarge)










We have all heard Children's Services managers "talking up," the progress that has been made since government intervention in 2009 but for many this increasingly seems like an illusion.

Case-loads continue to be at a level which are damaging to personal well-being and professional practice; hours worked continue to creep up with staff members carrying ridiculous and unsustainable TOIL balances - effectively delivering weeks of, "free," work to DMBC; supervision, when it does take place, is more often about case management than real support and the numbers of agency staff continues to be too high and is increasing as permanent workers look elsewhere for greater support and continuity.

Doncaster UNISON believes that urgent steps must be taken in DMBC to stabilise the current situation. Rather than seeing increasing use of Capability and Disciplinary procedures when workers succumb to the pressure we believe that you must be properly supported to do the work you do. We will shortly be bringing together UNISON activists in Children's Services to begin to plan for a campaign around the challenges you face - your input can make all the difference!