National Care Service: Justice Social Work research

8. Conclusions

It is clear from this research that JSW professionals, their clients and their professional partners see many strengths in the current approach to and arrangements for JSW in Scotland. The ethos and values of JSW, including its dual commitment to person-centred and holistic support of justice-involved people and to risk management for public protection, are central to the profession. The many partnerships JSW relies on to deliver these dual functions are also essential, with well-established joint working arrangements another recurrent identified strength. Having locally based teams, with strong understandings of the communities in which their clients live and the services available to them, is also seen as a key strength.

On the other hand, it is also clear that JSW is under very significant resourcing pressure. While JSW is clearly not unique in the public sector in this regard, the extent to which expectations and statutory requirements on JSW have increased over the last decade was seen as a contributing factor. Resourcing issues cut across all the other challenges identified in this report – from the challenges associated with delivering national requirements in rural areas, with their additional travel requirements and geographic challenges around group work; to issues around partnership working when either JSW, their external partners, or both are under time and resource pressure; to the perception that the fine balance between the ‘care and control’ elements of the role has increasingly tipped towards the latter due to a lack of staff and time to deliver the desistance-focused work that attracted many justice social workers to the role in the first instance.

Participants in this report had many suggestions for improving JSW. Some of these suggestions – such as increasing opportunities for co-location and improving the sustainability of resourcing – are likely to be issues that are experienced by Children and Families and Adult social work too. However, it is also clear that some of the issues identified are either specific to JSW (such as issues relating to delivery of JSW-specific training) or require a different approach for JSW (for example, improving public understanding / media representation of JSW arguably raises different issues to improving public understanding of other areas of social work). As the Scottish Government and others take forward discussions around improvements to social work in general – including the potential development of a National Social Work Agency – it will be important to ensure the voice of JSW continues to be heard.

This particularly applies to ongoing discussions about the NCS, in which JSW professionals currently feel they have been an “afterthought”. While the recent COSLA/Scottish Government agreement on shared responsibility and accountability may, potentially, reassure JSW professionals on some elements of how the NCS might impact on their terms and conditions, there are many other questions raised in this report that remain unanswered. Addressing these questions and continuing to engage with JSW at all levels will need to be a priority for the Scottish Government as the NCS develops, particularly – but not only – if Ministers decide that JSW should form a part of this new service.