The Need for Social Work Intervention: A Discussion Paper for the Scottish 21st Century Social Work Review

SECTION FOUR: IMPLICATIONS AND ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION

7.1 - The issues for social workers and their managers and employers highlighted in this paper include

• managing the relationship between user preferences and society's expectation for control and protection
• the differences in social work with groups who are included, tolerable and tolerated by society, and those who are excluded or regarded as intolerable
• how far the social worker's role includes being the advocates and champions of outsiders and groups defined as 'too difficult'
• the social worker's remit for mediating between the whole person and the full range of supports and services which may enable them to achieve the outcomes they seek
• the implications of dealing with the whole person in relation to their family, community and society, particularly where this involves competing or conflicting interests
• the tensions in working as professionals accountable to the people using their services, their regulatory body, employers allocating resources and setting targets, and government determining policy
• conflicts in the social worker's role when rationing scarce resources and applying eligibility criteria to exclude some with assessed needs
• how the social worker's focus on empowerment and enabling people to manage their own lives can be balanced with assessing and helping people to manage risk, and with responsibilities for adult and child protection
• identifying and extending 'the best available evidence' as a basis for social work practice
• recognising the human element in social work, in its dealings with weaknesses, mistakes and uncertainty

7.2 - The Social Work Review may also wish to consider a wider set of issues with implications for some of the key stakeholders:

• Should social work become a mainstream, universal service available on request?
• What is the scope for developing existing and new staff roles and support systems to make the most effective use of the scarce and skilled resource social workers represent?
• Does social work require its own distinctive form of professionalism to support a person-centred, outcome-oriented social model of practice?
• What liabilities do employers carry for actively supporting the continuing learning and professional development of their social work staff?
• What routes are available to strengthen the engagement of education and research academics with the complex world of social work practice?
• What mechanisms would support a shared responsibility for developing and continuously updating the knowledge base for social work?
• Are there ways to avoid specialist team structures, geared to facilitate inter-agency working, creating additional boundaries and obstacles for people to overcome?
• How far is it possible to promote coherent government policies, integrated across departmental boundaries, which take account of the whole person in their family and social situation?

Don Brand, Trish Reith and Daphne Statham