MPs gathered in Westminster today to debate how to improve the terms of conditions of homecare workers and, in turn, the quality of services. It was reassuring to see cross-party support for overhauling a system that sees up to 200,000 homecare workers effectively paid less than the minimum wage (according to Unison figures).
"Action is desperately needed on the terms and conditions of care workers," said Andrew Smith (Labour), who kicked off the debate. He pointed out that zero-hours contracts in particular presented real problems for the continuity of care.
Simon Hughes (Lib Dem) echoed Smith's concerns: "I have had care workers troubled by their ability to do their job come to see me. In my experience, such workers are troubled by a combination of not having enough time to look after the person they are caring for and no adequate account being taken of travel time, which means that they are in effect paid below the minimum wage to do a job that they cannot carry out sufficiently and that often there is no continuity of care from a particular individual for a vulnerable, normally elderly person."
Smith said one care worker in his constituency (Oxford East) had chosen to go back on Jobseeker's Allowance, because he was actually financially better off out of work.
Of course, many of Community Care's readers will already be well aware of the difficulties facing homecare workers. But what I found particularly interesting were the six solutions proposed by another Lib Dem, Andrew George, at the end of the debate:
- Encourage care providers to offer at least a living wage for workers: £7.20 per hour and £8.30 in the London area.
- Travel time between visits should be part of salaried time.
- A mileage rate should be set and shared by all.
- There should be a minimum visit time of 45 minutes in very exceptional cases and at least an hour for most visits, especially if it involves at least two of the following procedures for non-ambulant or semi-ambulant clients: getting out of bed; dressing or undressing; toileting; feeding; washing and mobility support.
- An efficient and effective arrival and departure reporting and recording system should be introduced.
- Care workers should be registered.
He concluded: "With that kind of support, I believe that we can give homecare workers the proper status and support that they richly deserve."
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Newly qualified social worker Nikki Burtonwill join the College of Social Work's professional assembly this month. Here, she explains why she applied for the role and how she plans to turn the profession round by making sure the College is plugged into current practice issues.
When I was at university, there was a lot of discussion about the College of Social Work and I had time then to keep an eye on how it was being set up. Once you go into frontline service it can be very easy to lose focus on the wider social work profession and how it's developing, because you get caught in the bubble of your department. But I think it's important that social work has a voice. We often receive negative media attention, so it's good to have a College that can stand up for the profession, that can explain why social workers do certain things, what their needs are and how the profession needs support to develop. That's why I applied to be a member of the professional assembly; the College is in its early days and I can be a part of how that goes forward.
To be nominated, I had to fill out an application form detailing my skills and experience and write a statement about why I thought I should be on the assembly.
I graduated in 2008 with a psychology degree and took a post as a community care officer for Hertfordshire adult care services, working with older people and people with physical disabilities. Two years later, the department sponsored me to do my master's in social work. Now I'm back at Hertfordshire in the same department and my client group includes older people with dementia and mental health problems.
I've been a user of services in the past and, although it was a little while ago, it gives me some insight into the other side of the social work story. Also, there's a lot of argument at the moment about the business case for employing social workers rather than unqualified staff. I've had experience as an unqualified and qualified member of staff, so I can see the benefits the social work role can give to the service user group we're working with. Finally, I'm taking part in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE), so I can help develop that process for others in the future.
Part of my role on the assembly will be to maintain development of the College, so that it continues to respond to frontline social workers in the right way and give them the resources they need to be able to do their jobs. The College is a centre of excellence, so it will look at relevant policy changes and how to shape those with the best interests of social work in mind, as well as providing advice to individual social workers. Another part of my role will be to make sure the College is kept up to date with current practice.
The professional assembly will meet once every quarter, but there may be other events and meetings I have to attend or documents to read and respond to. I asked permission from my employer before I completed my application, because it will occasionally involve taking time out of my working day. They were happy to let me do that as part of my continuing professional development. Although I'm standing on the assembly as an individual, not representing the views of Hertfordshire council, my practice can benefit from the opportunities I'm given, which will in turn benefit the department.
Unison is due to discuss the pay offer options for social workers and other care workers today, writes Judy Cooper.
Local government employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have set out two options for a pay offer to social care workers. Their preferred option is for a 1% pay rise for all staff, but with changes to terms and conditions.
This would include mileage rates, replacing the recourse to arbitration so that both sides need to agree to it, an additional day of annual leave and continuous service provision to be increased from five to 10 years.
The second option is for a 'no-strings' offer of a 1% increase for lower paid staff and a 0.6% increase for those earning higher wages.
The Unison local government national joint council (NJC) committee will discuss the options today. The joint trade union side of the NJC will meet after the Unite and GMB unions have also discussed the options on 28 February and 6 March.
Local council workers have had their pay frozen for three years. Unions had asked for a substantial flat rate increase for all staff, to help counteract the 13% pay cut most staff have had to take over that time due to inflation and living cost increases.
Heather Wakefield, Unison national secretary, noted that neither option provided "a full 1% offer in line with government pay policy and - clearly - neither goes any way at all to meeting the objectives of our claim." She said the trade union is committed to holding an all-member branch consultation on any final pay offer.
Full details of the pay options have been sent to regional offices in a circular.
Our survey on senior social work management highlights a growing view among social workers and team managers that many directors, assistant directors and heads of service are out of touch with the realities of the frontline. There is a feeling, among some, that senior managers make high-level decisions about the running of services without properly understanding the challenges their employees face:
"Senior managers are too removed from the reality of social work in the 21st century. They may have been on the frontline way back when, but the social work degree, life after Baby P and the reality of a Tory government making major cuts are a world apart from their experience."Children's social worker, Worcestershire
"No manager here has a social work background and there is virtually no understanding of the social work role or the statutory responsibilities of the job. I have never felt so undervalued."Adult social worker, Sheffield
"Despite the fact that many of the senior managers in adult care services are from a social care background, it's as though they have forgotten their own historical journey on the ground, including the actual nature of social work."Adult social worker, London
We asked social workers and team managers whether they thought it would be useful for senior managers to accompany frontline staff on the occasional home visit, to give them a better understanding of what the job is really like nowadays. A half (50%) said it would be very useful and another third (32%) said it would be quite useful. In other words, four out of five practitioners saw at least some merit in the idea.
"I do think that closing the gap between senior managers and service providing workers, managers shadowing or accompanying us on visits, doing the necessary paperwork, etc, would help the development of services." Children's social care worker, Birmingham
"Sometimes you need to take your mind off balancing the budget and spend time with your staff."Care manager, location not given
Community Care's supporting managers conference on 13 March will look at how social care managers can use their skills and knowledge to provide focus, facilitate change and achieve results. Register now
Interestingly, when we asked whether senior managers currently accompany them on home visits, 85% of social workers said never, while 15% said it happened occasionally. When we asked senior managers the same question, 45% said it never happened, while 47% said it happened occasionally. (It should be noted that this was a self-selecting sample; it is possible to conclude that senior managers responding to a Community Care survey are more engaged and social work-focused than others.) So it does happen in some local authorities, but not across the board.
Do you think senior managers should make more of an effort to stay in touch with frontline practice? If so, how? Are home visits the best way to do this or should senior managers maintain a small caseload or attend the occasional team meeting? Share your views in the comments section below.
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As social work organisations become more businesslike and place greater emphasis on competition and keeping costs down, so bad management behaviour becomes more readily accepted, warns former director Blair McPherson.
Lying and cheating your way to the top, how to outwit the auditors and beat your competitors; you won't find these offered as options on your MBA course or covered on your in-house management development programme. No, this is all part of the unofficial induction for managers, usually accompanied by lessons on when honesty is not the best policy, sucking up to your boss, covering your back and being associated with success, not failure.
Community Care's supporting managers conference on 13 March will look at how social care managers can use their skills and knowledge to provide focus, facilitate change and achieve results. Register now
When I became a social work manager, most of what I learned about managerial behaviour was from observation. Of course, I already understood that managers sometimes knew more than they let on and that preparing for an inspection was all about showing the service in a good light. But I was genuinely shocked when, as a senior manager, I found out the director was routinely fiddling the performance figures. I learned other directors would use smoke and mirrors to protect their own directorate at the expense of others during budget cutting discussions. And I witnessed colleagues claiming credit for the efforts of others, distancing themselves when things went wrong.
The more the public sector behaves like the private sector, with an emphasis on competition, keeping costs (wages) down and cutting overheads (management posts), the greater the pressure to achieve overambitious performance targets. And the greater the risk of bullying, fiddling figures, cutting corners, exploiting staff and intimidating whistleblowers.
There was a time when the public sector was so sure of itself that ethical behaviour was taken for granted. That isn't to say people didn't cheat or lie; just that no-one would argue that such behaviour was justified or part of the job. Today, the culture within public sector organisations has become more businesslike and, in doing so, it has become more acceptable to behave badly - as long as you deliver.
Blair McPherson was formerly director of community services at Lancashire council and has been a deputy director in social services and senior manager in a large housing association. He is author of "Equipping managers for an uncertain future".Find out more
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What can senior managers do to lead social care staff through cuts to jobs and services? Brian Walsh, director of community services at Coventry council and join chair of the Adass workforce development network, gives his view.
We are living through unprecedented and tough times. All managers and leaders are trying to guide their employees through a landscape of contracting resources, growing demand and changing expectations.
Being able to live with a level of uncertainty is a prerequisite for successful management in social care. Although we may know the direction services are going in, we are still unlikely to be able to describe the detail. This can be unsettling for employees, who will want to understand the impact on their jobs and on the people they support. The only real certainty is that change is coming.
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If we are to deliver changes to services, a motivated and skilled workforce is required. People who recognise the challenges and show up at work ready to tackle them. Motivation isn't just about money; it's about honesty and integrity, not shying away from the tough messages, but being open to dialogue.
A key part of motivating the workforce is ensuring individuals have the tools to do the job you've asked of them. While training budgets are undoubtedly tight, there are many cost-effective ways to develop the workforce. Job swaps, action learning sets and mentoring can all be used to good effect and have the added benefit of improving communication between parts of the business.
The social work manager's toolkit
As the pace and intensity of work increases, managers need to take care of themselves too. No-one is indispensable, so take your annual leave and watch the hours you work. Build in time for your own reflection and development; not only is that good role modelling, but it's crucial to developing as a manager and leader.
An unrelenting focus on the need for quality services, the nature of vulnerability and how best to challenge practice is a key part of the social work manager's toolkit. Creativity in meeting need and using all the assets at our disposal are key. Strong partnerships with the voluntary and third sectors and statutory partners enable us to utilise the collective resources at our disposal more effectively.
There is a special place for social workers in these interesting times; the values and beliefs of the profession equip them well for navigating the challenges ahead. An ability to balance multiple perspectives means it is possible to understand that delivering the best for someone isn't always about getting as much resource as possible. Skills in mobilising resources and communities to deliver good outcomes for people and a deeply-rooted belief in promoting independence can help the financial bottom line.
With the challenges we face come opportunities. Opportunities to have new conversations with service users about what are reasonable expectations, chances for communities to mobilise assets and occasions where employees can utilise entrepreneurial skills.
Sign up to Community Care's Supporting Managers conference on 13 March, which will look at how managers can successfully drive outcomes from staff.
The College of Social Work has begun the process of recruiting a chief executive, but it seems the successful candidate does not have to come from a social work background. According to the job description, a degree in social work (or equivalent qualification recognised by the Health and Care Professions Council) is considered "highly desirable" - but not essential.
Recently-designated College of Social Work chair Jo Clearly defends the decision in the Guardian this week, pointing out that she herself is a registered social worker and will speak up for her fellow professionals.
It's perhaps worth noting that the chief exec of the Royal College of Nursing was a nurse, the chief exec of the College of Occupational Therapists was an OT; but the chief exec of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society comes from a nursing background. What she brought to the table was extensive managerial experience in a clinical setting - and a master's degree in business administration.
So the question is, if a strong, charismatic and experienced leader with at least a connection to the social work sector applies for the job, should the College turn them down in favour of a potentially weaker leader, but one who has been a social worker?
And to flip that on its head, will social workers trust - and therefore pay to join - a college that isn't led by people who have at some point been in a qualified, frontline social work role?
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The thorny issue of how much we should disclose about ourselves to clients is a constant dilemma for social workers, yet there is little in the way of clear guidance on the issue, writes Jonathan Lovell.
If you were working with a service user and they asked you something about yourself, how would you react? Would it be different if a client asked you about something trivial, such as whether you can drive, than if they asked you whether you are married or have children?
What might you be prepared to share if you were asked whether you had ever been depressed, experienced counselling, or whether you were religious? And what kinds of things do we give away unconsciously or by accident, such as the way we dress, or by virtue of our gender or ethnicity?
Disclosing something to a client about ourselves might help to show we understand aspects of their situation and that we empathise with their circumstances, or it might help us to challenge their attitudes and beliefs.
Alternatively, sharing our thoughts and experiences might create barriers. For example, where attitudes and morals are in conflict, where clients feel that the practitioner is not fully focusing on them, or does not understand their situation.
On my social work training, in particular on placement, I was unsure what I could share with clients and when. Avoiding self-disclosure altogether was difficult, because sometimes it was unconscious, and sometimes it just felt plain unfair to the client.
When they were telling me everything about their life and that way they felt, how could I refuse to answer even the most basic question they asked about me?
In professions like counselling and psychotherapy self-disclosure is extensively considered and written about. Yet when it comes to social work - a profession where the relationship with clients is central - research on self-disclosure is sparse.
Guidance is often, at best, vague or contradictory. Discussions with other practitioners throw up a wide range of competing opinions and beliefs. Some social workers are pro-disclosure, while others feel disclosure is not acceptable under any circumstances.
This is why I'm conducting research on social workers' opinions on this issue. I want, however modestly, to explore some of the difficulties practitioners face in using self-disclosure in their work. Have your say by taking part in this short web survey.
As with all professional ethical dilemmas, there is unlikely to be a consensus on the thorny issue of self-disclosure. But, in the absence of effective guidance for practitioners, research that seeks to understand the problem, and articulate social workers' experiences, could be an important step forward.
Jonathan Lovell, is an MA social work student at the University of York
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You may think you don't need (or want) to know everything about your students, but forewarned is forearmed when it comes to protecting vulnerable service users, says social work practice educator Helen Bonnick.
Trying to make decisions without enough information is, well, trying - whether it's what to make for dinner without knowing what's in the fridge, or how to assess a student's progress without having observed their work. Sometimes you can have too much information. Perhaps you hear a snippet of gossip about a neighbour, read a private email over someone's shoulder or witness an illicit kiss. Even if you immediately declare an interest and leave the scene, the damage is done. More difficult still is the "strictly in confidence" news about a colleague's drug habit. That knowledge may have a profound effect on the way you view someone or their work - and you cannot unlearn it.
But can practice educators ever have too much information about their students? I've walked in to a room to hear colleagues sounding off about how a student really gets on their nerves. Is it fact or opinion? Is it even relevant? I'm only here to assess the students' practice on placement and overheard comments might be genuinely prejudicial.
On the other hand, a university once sent a student to me with only the suggestion that his report writing needed to improve. It was only later that I learned he had failed his last placement and was retaking the whole year. The university had not wanted to prejudice me against him. Fair enough, maybe there was a personality clash between the student and staff last time or genuine problems with the placement. I need to be able to form my own judgments. But I am training my students to do complex work with vulnerable people; if there are areas of weakness, I need to know so that the proper safeguards can be put in place for all concerned.
I believe that, for a social work practice placement to proceed fairly and safely, all important and relevant information should be available to the practice educator right from the start. Any issues must be shared honestly, if possible by the student themselves (with support from the university if needed). As the placement continues there will be cause to share more information about learning and development. Again, however unpalatable, it needs to be done openly and honestly.
Isn't this, after all what we are training students to do with their service users?
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The Mid Staffs inquiry report has significant implications for social care and social work, as well as for the NHS, argues Roger Kline.
This is a tale of under-staffing, bullying, and a demoralised workforce with staff stretched to the limit and beyond. But it is not a care home or some of the more stressed social work departments. It is (or was) Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and a sorry and scandalous tale it is, with direct implications for social workers and social care.
The public inquiry report by Robert Francis QC (whose opening statement is shown above), should not make easy reading for directors or staff in social services departments. The report is published amid almost weekly reports confirming the growing gap between rising need and falling resources in social care. The perfect storm of rising safeguarding referrals, rising numbers in care, and rising eligibility thresholds is the most obvious consequence. At the same time there are serious and repeated concerns about conditions in some care homes and support for adults needing support from social workers.
Not only are there similarities in the pressures on social care and the NHS, but the regulator and ministers overlap. The Care Quality Commission remains in place as a cross-service regulator despite its failings and the beefed-up inspection and monitoring regime proposed by Francs would certainly impact on social care. Moreover ministers have explicitly made the links, not least as the unsolved issue of integration of health and social care looms large.
Key recommendations
So which of the report's 290 recommendations have the greatest bearing on social care?
1. The proposed duty of candour would require staff to admit mistakes that have caused "death or serious injury" to patients to their employer as soon as possible and calls for prosecution of employers and managers preventing staff exercising their statutory duty (including whistleblowing over serious concerns). All healthcare providers should also be required by law to inform the patient or relatives of mistakes and provide information to them. There is a separate duty of candour to be imposed on NHS directors to be "truthful" with information they give to healthcare regulators.
2. A proposed beefed-up inspection regime led by the Care Quality Commission including a new power for the Care Quality Commission to police this duty of candour and prosecute organisations and individuals who break the rule.
3. Gagging laws against whistleblowers that prevent disclosure of care safety concerns would be banned.
4. Healthcare assistants would be regulated. At present, the vet who checks your cat is better regulated than the person who looks after your mum in hospital. What will this mean for social care assistants?
5. Senior general managers would have contractually enforceable ethical codes and a "negative register" for the utterly unfit.
6. Francis says nothing about the Health and Care Professions Council but warns the Nursing and Midwifery Council that "to act as an effective regulator of nurse managers and leaders, as well as more frontline nurses, [it] needs to be equipped to look at systemic concerns as well as individual ones". This would surely lead to the HCPC having to beef up its code to provide greater support for whistleblowers and hold bullying managers to account?
The Francis Report was clear that Stafford was not unique, but was the tip of a much wider problem. Serious problems in social care are getting worse. Bullying is rife. Many staff fear the consequences of raising concerns or speaking up for service users. These system failures caused by poor leadership, a lack of openness and transparency compounded by funding shortfalls are ones social care needs to face up to.
Social workers must always respect the rights of those we work with. The Francis Report reminds all of use that we should do so whatever pressures we face from commissioners or providers to ignore their needs and their voice
Roger Kline is co-author of Professional Accountability in Social Care and Health Challenging unacceptable practice and its management (Sage 2012) and a visiting fellow at Middlesex University
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