Working Day (And The Rest...)

As I've said before, and will say again, Social Workers never get the credit they deserve. Chances are that if you read about them, it's due to a mistake, which are (sadly) inevitable, as they are in any caring profession. Following on from an earlier post, The Tedious World's own Social Work correspondent offers an insight in the kind of challenges they face.

I thought that for my next insight into the life of your average Social Worker, I would look at what we actually do day to day. Unlike Doctors or Police Officers, there are no TV shows about Social Workers and the nature of their work, so I imagine most people don’t really know what we do on an average day. The following example is not typical of every day, and I intend to write about what a typical day is like when we are on Duty and get new referrals at a later date.

So today, I get up at 7am, though I was actually awake long before that as usually I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about work. I have to admit that I don’t often worry about the children on my caseload, more about the paperwork I need to do that day, the assessments I need to complete and the many phone calls and emails I haven’t had time to return.

After only having had three or four hours sleep, I drive to work. It was recommended to me that if you work in Child Protection, it’s best not to live where you work. I stupidly took this advice so I now face a 40 mile round trip every day through heavy traffic to get to and from the office. Frankly, if I could get a job nearer home now I’d take it and not care about whether I would be bumping into Service Users whilst doing my weekly supermarket shop, but hey, you live and learn.

After battling through the traffic, I arrive at a Primary School for a Core Group meeting. These meetings are for children who are on a Child Protection Plan and happen every four weeks. Whilst parking, I over estimate the distance and bang into some metal railings. Having no time to inspect the damage, I rush into the meeting to find several people haven’t turned up. Our manager has insisted lately that at these meetings we should ‘encourage’ other professionals to take the minutes instead of it always being the Social Worker. Unfortunately, the attitude is generally ‘that’s your responsibility’, therefore I end up minute taking as usual.

The meeting doesn't go well; the teacher of the youngest child is concerned about their behaviour. School claim they have tried everything to control the child’s behaviour at home and are now looking at me to find the magic solution. It is suggested that I should make a referral to Educational Psychology, which I reluctantly agree to despite the fact this child is five years old and the psychology team will recommend parenting classes for the parents despite the fact they have already completed these.

After the meeting I inspect the damage to my car. I've managed to dislodge the rubber trimming around the bottom of the bumper. As it is hanging off I decide that the best option is to pull it off. However, this results in me cutting my hand. I then drive back to the office where luckily there are actually plasters in the First Aid box for a change. My hands are shaking, so I quickly have two cups of tea before turning on the computer.

This is always the part of the day I dread, I always check the incoming contacts on open cases first to get the worst part over with. This is where you see if anything has happened overnight to one of your families. Today’s a good day, nothing on any of my cases.


On an average week, we would have five social workers, an Advanced Practitioner, who has lots of valuable experience, and a manager for each team. On our team, however, we have the manager and another member of staff on holiday all week with another Social Worker on holiday from Wednesday. We have one Social Worker off sick and another who left several months ago and is yet to be replaced. This leaves me, one other Social Worker and the Advanced Practitioner.

We check the long email sent to remind us of all the work we need to pick up on other people’s cases this week. This list doesn't include the work we have to do on our own cases, as it’s expected that we know what we’re doing and have planned our time accordingly. We do usually manage our diaries effectively, however it doesn't help when you have to go out and visit other Social Worker’s families or attend meetings on their behalf. We manage to divvy up the work without too much complaining.

Today my challenge is to complete five Initial Assessments on new cases which came in recently. We get seven working days to complete these but still we end up feeling rushed and today I try to track down people from the children’s schools and their school nurses. I leave messages several times with not much hope of getting called back.

Due to being on essential training two days last week, I’m now behind with these assessments, meaning that of the five assessments I completed, they will all have to go on to Core Assessments where more information can be gathered, partly as I've not had as much time as usual to complete them and partly by other professionals not returning my calls.

The afternoon is interrupted by a false fire alarm which leaves us stranded outside for a good ten minutes. I then field a stream of phone calls (several not for me but they couldn't get hold of anyone else). Most of the calls are to remind me of things I haven’t had time to do yet, however one I feel is symptomatic of how the supposed ‘multi-agency working’ that is supposed to be the basis of what we do does not work. The call is from a Nurse on a Disability Team. She’s working with a teenager with learning difficulties who is at risk of being sexually exploited due to her lack of understanding about danger and risk.

The Nurse wants to talk to her and explain to her what sex actually is, but is worried that if this girl then goes off of her own accord and has sex, then she will be held responsible. The Nurse wants me to speak to my manager about the implications for her. Technically, this should be discussed between her and her manager, but she points out that I am the ‘lead professional’. I’m annoyed when I hang up the phone as to me it feels like another incidence of ‘back-covering’ (again something I intend to go into in another post).

The day ends with me cancelling an appointment which would be a 20 mile round trip as I honestly tell the Service User that I cannot afford the petrol to come and see them until I get paid later in the week. Luckily, they are very understanding and the appointment is rearranged.
I finish the day with a home visit. They’re not in. I breathe a sigh of relief and head for the motorway to begin the long commute home.