From The Front Line

Recently, I was contacted by a Social Worker who asked if they could write about the struggles facing people in their profession in the face of cuts. Below is their first report, I hope with more to come.

I've worked as a Social Worker in a large city since January 2010. The questions I mostly get asked by friends are ‘Do you enjoy your job?’ and ‘That must be a difficult job to do?’

To answer, yes I do enjoy my job most of the time, I do feel that I’m able to make a difference, even on a small level. Secondly, yes it is a difficult job to do and it’s about to get worse due to the sweeping cuts being implemented by the current government.

Take, for example, Sure Start Centres, there are hundreds all over the country and are one of the things the previous Labour government got right. They’re quite simply an essential tool in our jobs. They provide a point of contact between Social Workers and children who are too young for formal education and are therefore not being seen daily by professionals. They’re able to report concerns to us that we can then act on and are also an enormous source of support for children and families.

Another example is a three year old child whose parent has a history of depression. Due to the fact that I currently over 40 different children on my caseload, I’m unable to see this child every day, or even every week. The fact that I have managed to get this child a place at a Sure Start Nursery means that they are seen five days a week by staff who are then able to monitor and support both child and parent and communicate any concerns to myself. If Sure Start goes, so does the safety net for that child. The child won’t be able to attend a private nursery five days a week because Children’s Services won’t fund it, so you’re looking at a 12 month period between now and the child starting school where professionals are not seeing this child on a regular basis - this is when important information gets missed.

My anger at what this current government is doing to some of the poorest and most deprived families knows no bounds and the fact that I have always voted Liberal Democrat and been a party member since the age of 18 and also been personally involved with the party makes me feel even worse. Suffice to say I have cut up my membership card and will never vote for them again.

We haven’t even begin to see how badly affected we will be by these cuts; however it is clear that my caseload is growing. Lord Laming’s most recent report into the social work profession recommended caseloads of 15 children which even I recognise will never happen. I personally feel I could manage 25 just about, so long as these were a mix of low and high risk cases. 42 children, however, is totally unmanageable and I worry how long it will be until something happens because I haven’t had the time to adequately assess the risk. This is why it is imperative that organisations such as Sure Start are there to help me assess risks and make responsible decisions for a child’s safety. Without these organisations, mistakes will be made.

I intend to write more often about the cuts, and also about other issues affecting social work, in order to try and paint a realistic picture of what challenges Social Workers face on a daily basis, as often the portrayal I read in the press about our profession makes me incredibly hurt and angry about the misinformation that is allowed to be printed about our role.

So yes, I do enjoy my job and yes, it is difficult but we shouldn't support a government that is about to make it 100% more difficult to adequately protect children from harm.