Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Labour has returned to power with an overwhelming victory in the 2024 general election.

The party has won 412 seats, giving it a majority in the House of Commons of 174.

Keir Starmer has become Labour’s first prime minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010 and is now appointing his cabinet. Wes Streeting has become health and social care secretary, with responsibility for adult social care, and Bridget Phillipson education secretary, with oversight of children’s services, reprising the equivalent roles to the ones they took in opposition.

Stephen Kinnock has been made minister for care, with responsibility for adults’ services in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), while the government is yet to confirm who will oversee children’s social care in the Department for Education. It could be former social worker Janet Daby.

The party has been elected on a manifesto that did not reference to social work and made relatively limited commitments on social care, none of which was funded.

It has also pledged not to raise income tax rates, national insurance or VAT and to stick to tight fiscal rules, including being on course to reduce public debt as a share of national income over the medium term. As a result, it has very limited scope to raise public spending.

Call to prioritise social work

However, in the wake of Labour’s long-expected triumph, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and Social Workers Union (SWU) called for early discussions with the new government so social workers and those they support are “at the forefront of [its] plans from day one”.

BASW chief executive Ruth Allen (credit: BASW)

“We acknowledge that the new government faces significant challenges and will have desperately difficult decisions to make,” said BASW chief executive Ruth Allen.

“However, the problems our profession and society face run deep, and requires bold and immediate actions to address. It really is time to get it right.

“From better resourcing of social work and funding of social care, to measures that alleviate poverty, reform mental health provision, protect human rights, and much more. Ministers must hit the ground running, and BASW will be working hard to influence and hold them to account.”

John McGowan, Social Workers Union (photo: Simon Hadley)

For the SWU, general secretary John McGowan said: “Social work has been at the sharp end of poor political choices that have plunged our profession into a recruitment and retention crisis and led to a decline in working conditions, while simultaneously increasing demand on services as communities become worse off.

“We hear from members everyday about the toll this is taking, and the buck stops at those in power with the responsibility to fix it. This is the strong case we’ll be making to the new government over the days, weeks and months ahead.”

Priorities for adult social care

In its first message to the new government, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services set out three priorities for adult social care.

“Three key issues we believe the government must prioritise are the need to improve the pay, terms and conditions of the social care workforce; provide improved support to unpaid carers; and to provide care closer to home so that those drawing on care can live the lives they want in their own homes and communities,” said ADASS chief executive Anna Hemmings.

For the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), chief executive Rhidian Hughes said: “The government faces significant challenges ahead, including putting social care on a surer footing, addressing the cost-of-living crisis, which is disproportionately impacting disabled people, and addressing the national scandal of autistic people and people with a learning disability being detained in long-stay hospitals.

“Only by prioritising the provision of high-quality support for disabled people of all ages, will we have a fairer society where everyone is able to thrive.”

‘Urgent’ need to invest in and reform adult social care

Meanwhile, independent care provider representative body Care England said the new administration needed to “invest in and reform [adult social care] as an urgent priority”.

“There are practical measures the new government must implement within its first 100 days to secure a sustainable future for our sector,” said its chief executive, Martin Green.

The Homecare Association, which represents domiciliary care providers, said there was a need for a “care revolution”.

“We’re not just talking about tweaking the system,” said its chief executive Jane Towson. “We need a complete transformation. Yes, we’ll harness AI and robots, but let’s not forget the irreplaceable human touch. We need smart tech and even smarter policies.”

“Labour now has the chance to rewrite the rules of care. Let’s create a system that’s as innovative as it is compassionate, as efficient as it is empathetic. Supporting people at home must be at the heart of government policy”.

‘Need for system fit for the 21st century’

For the Social Care Institute for Excellence, chief executive Kathryn Smith said: “More people are requesting support, but fewer are getting the help they need. With demand increasing, local authorities do not have the money to meet it and staff numbers are not keeping pace.”

She added: “A social care system fit for the 21st century is in the national interest and the formidable challenges facing the social care sector cannot be a justification for inaction.

“The cornerstone of future policy change ought to be co-producing solutions with people with lived experience, their families and carers, as well as care providers. Only an inclusive, collaborative approach will improve the efficacy and sustainability of any policy change.”

‘£6bn funding gap’

The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the new government with a reference to the £6.2bn gap it has calculated councils face over the next two years between the resources they have and what they need to maintain services at existing levels. 

Much of this is driven by adults’ and children’s social care pressures, according to the LGA.

“It is important we find a sustainable and long term financial solution, as well as the powers and levers required so we can deliver on the priorities of the new government,” said new LGA chair Louise Gittins.

Tackling children’s social care pressures is ‘urgent challenge’

The financial pressures facing councils, including in relation to social care, were also referenced by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) in its response to the election result.

“For too long children’s needs, their rights and outcomes have not been prioritised and for too long councils have been severely underfunded in the face of rising levels of need and costs,” said ADCS president Andy Smith.

“A growing number of councils are effectively bankrupt, or dangerously close to this and many vital and valued services, including services that help children and families before they reach crisis point, are at risk.”

Smith added: “The new government has many urgent challenges to address. This must include the crisis in local government funding, growing pressures in children’s social care and the SEND system and huge challenges facing children’s mental health. “

Most social workers’ ideal work pattern is part-time, a Community Care poll has found.

The finding follows a steady rise in the proportion of social work job advertisements offering part-time or flexible hours, from 19% in 2022 to 23% in 2024, according to Social Workers Union research.

Community Care’s annual survey of practitioners’ job-seeking preferences has found a persistent gap between the proportion of social workers working part-time and the share of practitioners who want to. In the 2023 survey, 12% worked part-time, while 22% would prefer to do so.

However, a recent Community Care poll, amassing 588 votes, found that the majority of respondents (76%) considered part-time work to be ideal, compared to 24% who chose full-time.

Working reduced hours with a full caseload 

Comments on the related article shed light on the obstacles and issues arising from working part-time in social work.

Social workers David and Samo called attention to the expectation that practitioners retained full caseloads despite working reduced hours.

“I recall that when I chose to work part-time my then-manager advised that she could not reduce my full-time caseload as she had no other social workers to allocate these cases to,” said David.

“The expectation was that I worked part-time – with part-time pay – but retaining a full-time caseload. No wonder local authorities cannot recruit and retain social workers. I despair.”

Samo, who works three and a half days a week while managing 19 cases, attributed the situation to “a massive recruitment problem” that forces remaining team members to take on the caseloads of departing colleagues.

“I suspect the push for part-time roles reflects the cuts by the central government, and there will be soon more of these positions to come, with the hope more social workers will work part-time, but for a full-time caseload,” said Abdul.

“We already do it now by working double our own hours, so this is the next logical step.”

However, others felt there were negative consequences for services from a rising number of practitioners working part-time.

‘Crises don’t only fall on part-timers’ working days’

Social worker Anna B. said that part-time case-holding “creates more issues than it solves”.

“Crises, emergencies, breakdowns and meetings don’t only fall on the three days per week the social worker [will] work. This leaves full-time staff covering the part-timer’s emergencies on all other days, in addition to their full-time caseloads,” she added.

“The part-timer also has to spend the first day of their week wading through the emails and emergencies from their days off.”

Ann Towson, whose son was allocated a social worker in 2022 to support him through mental health issues, said being allocated a practitioner working part-time had been “a nightmare”.

“If my son’s family had not been there for him, I don’t know where he would have [ended up]. It has put a great strain on my health over the years,” she added.

“I am disabled and not in good health and have been so for most of his 25 years. Social services need more full-time, properly trained staff. I feel very strongly about the situation, not just for me and my son, but for many many others who have no family support.”

Do you think a rise in the number of practitioners working part-time will cause more harm than good?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
The proportion of social work roles advertised as part-time or flexible hours has grown for the second consecutive year but remains at less than a quarter.

Almost a quarter of positions (23.1%) were advertised as either part-time, part-time or full-time or available on a flexible-hours basis, found a Social Workers Union (SWU) study of online job postings in April and May this year.

This is up from 18.7% in 2022 – when the SWU first conducted its now annual investigation into part-time working – and 22.6% last year.

In the vast majority of these cases, the role was advertised as purely part-time; such posts accounted for 22.8% of adverts in 2024, up from 16.1% in 2022 and 20.1% last year.

National trends

The figures are based on analysis of social work job postings on the Community Care, Guardian and Total Jobs websites, on 23 April and 20 May this year.

As in the two previous years, Scotland had the highest proportion of roles available on a part-time or flexible hours basis.

However, its rate has dropped year on year, falling from 30.5% in 2022 to 26.7% this year.

The opposite has happened in Wales, where the proportion of roles offered on a part-time or flexible hours basis has grown from 14.6% in 2022 to 20.4% in 2024.

The rate in England, which accounted for the vast majority of jobs, grew from 18.7% in 2022 to 22.6% this year. There were

Barriers to part-time work 

The SWU is campaigning to increase the availability of part-time roles in the profession, in order to improve the recruitment and retention of practitioners who are unable or unwilling to work full-time.

Community Care’s annual survey of social workers’ job-seeking preferences has established that there is a consistent gap between the proportion of social workers who work part-time and the proportion who would like to.

While 12% of respondents to the 2023 jobseeker survey worked part-time, either on a permanent or an agency basis, 22% said that this was their preference, consistent with previous years’ results.

While some of these practitioners cited affordability as a barrier to part-time work, others referenced inadequate staffing or said that such opportunities were not offered or promoted within their organisation or were opposed by managers.

Union urges employers to go further on flexibility

Social Workers Union general secretary John McGovern welcomed the rise in the proportion of roles that were available part-time, but said there was more to do.

“Employers agreed with us that they need to do more to offer part-time working and it is good to see the green shoots of progress we saw in 2023 have continued to prosper,” he said.

“With recruitment for social workers still proving challenging for employers, we now need to see much more concerted action and more roles offered on part-time or flexible hours contracts.”

Councils ‘working hard to improve working conditions’

For the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, workforce policy committee chair Nicola Curley said local authorities were “working hard to create the ideal working conditions for our workforce so that they can provide the best possible support to children and families”.

“Some people in the workforce may prefer not to work full-time or are unable to but would like to remain in the profession and it is important that we accommodate this where we can,” she added.

“Good social work is about maintaining strong, consistent relationships with our children and families and so retaining a focus on this is critical.”

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Hundreds of social workers in England are being “left in limbo”, often unable to work, because of long and increasing delays in fitness to practise (FTP) cases.

That was the warning from the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), Social Workers Union (SWU) and UNISON in a joint statement yesterday setting out their “significant concerns” about Social Work England’s operation of the FTP system.

The bodies, who each represent tens of thousands of social workers, were responding to an admission from the regulator in February that average FTP case lengths would increase from just over two years, currently, during 2024-25.

This was because Social Work England had to reduce FTP final hearing numbers to manage a projected budget overspend in 2023-24, and also due to the high likelihood that its 2024-25 budget settlement from the Department for Education would be insufficient to increase the number of hearings.

BASW, SWU and UNISON said they worked collaboratively with Social Work England and had raised the issue of FTP delays in their regular stakeholder meetings with the regulator in order to resolve the issue.

‘Hundreds of social workers left in limbo’

However, they added: “The time has now come for swift action, as hundreds of social workers are currently left in limbo.”

This exerted an “intolerable and unfair” toll on these practitioners’ mental health, which led some to stop working because of “unmanageable” distress.

Others were unable to work because employers did not consider them for roles when they learned they were subject to an FTP investigation. This was even the case when practitioners were not subject to interim orders placing restrictions on their practice or suspending them altogether, said BASW, SWU and UNISON.

They called on Social Work England to divert resources to FTP, including by simplifying the “laborious and obstructive” approach to registration renewal and making this biennial, rather than yearly.

They also warned Social Work England against raising the fee practitioners pay to register, which has been fixed at £90 a year since the regulator’s inception in December 2019, but which the regulator has said it would review between 2023 and 2026.

Regulator criticised for ‘adversarial approach’

However, while BASW, SWU and UNISON acknowledged that Social Work England had received more cases than expected since 2019, they also claimed delays were driven, in part, by the regulator investigating too many cases and taking an “adversarial” approach.

There were “many examples” of cases that progressed beyond the triage stage when there was “no reasonable reason for them to do so”, said the bodies. At triage, Social Work England determines whether there are reasonable grounds to investigate the social worker’s fitness to practise.

Then, at the investigations stage, the regulator “in almost all cases” only sought evidence supporting the allegation against the registrant, they said. Information that could clear the social worker was “not considered or overlooked” even when drawn to the attention of investigators, the bodies added.

What BASW, SWU and UNISON want to see

“This has the effect of cases progressing that do not need to, taking up significant resources, the very problem that leads to delay at all stages,” said BASW, SWU and UNISON.

They called on the regulator to ensure investigations were “more collaborative and thorough” and update training and guidance for case examiners. These FTP staff determine, following investigation, whether there is a realistic prospect that the concerns about the registrant could be proved and, if so, whether their fitness to practise may be found impaired.

Such revised guidance for case examiners should ensure examiners “make assessments from a neutral, less combative position, taking into account contextual factors”.

BASW, SWU and UNISON also called on the regulator to “develop alternative outcomes” for cases where the person has been awaiting a final hearing for multiple years and “adopt a more reasonable approach to voluntary removal”.

Call for urgent discussions

This is the process by which the regulator decides whether to accept a person subject to FTP proceedings’ request to be removed from the register, which is based on whether there is a public interest in the fitness to practise case continuing.

The three organisations sent the statement to Social Work England on 25 April, along with a letter in which they asked for “urgent and progressive discussions…to address the issues we have raised”.

Social Work England responded to them on 3 May, and has now published this response on its website (see box below). 

In this, it said it looked forward to meeting with BASW, SWU and UNISON to further discuss the issues.

Most social workers say their mental health has got worse recently due to their work, with one in ten saying it has “collapsed”, a survey has found.

At the same time, over four in ten have said they are now considering leaving the profession because of their experiences over the past 18 months.

That was among the findings of a poll of 716 Social Workers Union (SWU) members, commissioned by The Independent and carried out in January and February of this year.

The research also found that most practitioners felt their caseloads were not appropriate or manageable and a majority also believed they were not doing the job to the standard they would like.

Deteriorating mental health

Just over half (52.7%) of respondents* said their mental health had deteriorated recently due to work, while a further 9.6% said it had “collapsed”. In addition, 86.2% of respondents said they had experienced significant stress as a result of work.

When asked for the reasons, several mentioned caseloads and workloads more generally, including the administrative tasks they had to complete and the pressure to complete work to tight timescales, as well as staffing shortages.

This was leading some to work several hours of unpaid overtime to complete their work and others to feel they were letting people down by not practising in the way they wanted to.

This was reflected in answers to other survey questions, with 60% saying they were not at all (21%) or partially unable (39%) to do the job to the standard they would like, while 58% said their caseload was either not at all or only partially manageable and appropriate.

Most practitioners expected this situation to get worse over the coming year, with 86.3% saying they anticipated a massive (51.5%) or slight (34.9%) increase in the number of referrals to social services and the number of assessments social workers would have to carry out.

Some also referenced pressure, a lack of understanding and, in a number of cases, bullying from management as factors behind the stress they were experiencing.

Significant minority considering quitting profession

Based on their experiences as a social worker over the past 18 months, 43.9% of respondents said they were now considering leaving social work, with 5.5% saying they already were mulling quitting.

The survey builds on other recent evidence of the pressures on the profession:

• Social worker morale and practitioners’ likelihood to recommend the profession to friends and family both fell from 2020-23, according to Social Work England-commissioned research.
• Half of practitioners disagreed that they were able to manage their workloads, while two-thirds had seen an increase in the number of experienced social workers quitting their jobs in the previous 12 months, found a British Association of Social Workers survey.

The changes over time in morale reported by Social Work England coincide with the Covid-19 emergency and its aftermath. Separate research with practitioners carried out last year found that social workers were working more overtime, experiencing greater levels of burnout and reporting lower work-related quality of life than at the start of the pandemic.

The survey of Social Workers Union members also uncovered child safeguarding concerns. Four in ten said they had raised concerns about a child where they believed appropriate action was not taken as a result over the past 18 months. This was in the context of half of the respondents working in children’s services.

 Cost-of-living concerns

The survey also revealed significant concerns among practitioners about costs of living faced by those they supported.

Over half (55.7%) said many of the people they worked with lived in cold and damp homes, while over four in ten said they had seen children (41.2%) or vulnerable people (45.9%) living in conditions with excessive mould.

In addition, a quarter (24.3%) disabled people or those with a health condition whom they worked with were unable to afford to run their medical equipment.

Social work ‘on brink of a collective breakdown’

Responding to the results, the union’s general secretary, John McGowan, said: “The data highlights a profession on the brink of a collective breakdown. Working conditions are not improving, the mental health of social workers is suffering and the resources and support for them to do their jobs properly are missing.

“Social workers go above and beyond to help those at most risk in the country and are highlighting safeguarding concerns on a regular basis. However, the consistent reports from respondents to the survey are that the resources to help those most in need are just not there.”

McGowan said it was up to the government to step in to provide councils with sufficient resources to “reverse the decline in public services and ensure the most vulnerable get the support they need”.

*In all cases, the findings have been reported as a percentage of those who responded to the particular question, not of the sample as a whole.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Over three-quarters of social work roles are not being advertised on a part-time or flexible-hours basis, despite a rise in their proportion since last year.

Twenty three per cent of online adverts studied by the Social Workers Union (SWU) on two dates earlier this year offered part-time or flexible hours, up from 18.7% in a similar exercise last year.

The SWU is campaigning for employers to increase the number of part-time roles to enable social workers who cannot work full-time to re-enter practice, and help tackle mounting staff shortages.

‘Limited progress’ on part-time hours

SWU national organiser Carol Reid said it was “encouraging to start to see some green shoots of progress in some areas of the country”.

“However, with recruitment for social workers still proving challenging for employers, we now need to see this support for the aims of the campaign translate into more concerted action and more roles offered on part-time or flexible hours contracts,” she added.

“The growth we have seen is sluggish at best and we’re also hearing worrying reports that not all roles advertised as part-time are really suitable to part-time applicants.”

The last point was highlighted by social worker from the North West, who was interviewed for role which was advertised as being open to part-time hours.

“I put in a lot of hard work for the interview and it went really well. However, one of the managers said, ‘ideally we want someone full time’ and I did not get the job,” they said.

“I just feel like part-time workers are at the bottom of the pecking order and brought in ‘just in case’ there was nobody suitable from the full-time applicants.”

Impact on social workers with protected characteristics

The union also raised concerns about social workers having difficulty when requesting to switch from full- to part-time hours.

“We must move away from the idea that social workers going part time is a negative development or an accommodation for someone who isn’t coping,” said Derbyshire social worker Deb Solomon, who is also chair of the British Association of Social Workers’ Neurodivergent Social Workers Special Interest Group.

“Flexibility is essential to retain staff with protected characteristics and boost workforce opportunities for development. For example, some neurodivergent staff can really benefit from part-time working, and the positives can be seen in productivity, retention and wellbeing.”

She added: “We also need to ensure that when part-time roles are offered, this is not just a full-time role squashed into fewer days, which is impossible for the post-holder to manage.”

SWU sees an increase in part-time roles as a way of tackling mounting workforce churn and shortages in social work.

Workforce pressures

In England, the number of council children’s services social workers leaving their jobs annually has risen by 40% over the past five years, while one in five posts lay vacant, as of September 2022. Meanwhile, in adults’ services, 17.1% of social workers left their posts in the year to September 2022, up from 13.6% in 2019-20, while the vacancy rate rose from 9.5% to 11.6%.

In response to SWU’s research, social work leaders said they recognised the value of giving practitioners the opportunity to work part-time but struggled to do so because of service pressures.

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said it recognised that “social work and social care has in some cases been slow to develop in this area for its professionally qualified workers”.

“This is an opportunity and challenge for councils,” said ADASS joint chief executive Sheila Norris.

“This type of structural change could make a huge difference to social workers and occupational therapists, too many of whom who we know are exhausted and leaving their roles.  Faced with an ongoing recruitment challenge, employers need to as flexible as possible if they are to attract and retain their experienced, professionally qualified workforce.

Barriers to more flexible roles

“Our members tell us that maintaining service continuity, increasing supervision time when everyone is stretched, managing increasing levels of need and complexity, and providing cover across all hours are some of the blockers to offering flexible roles.”

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) acknowledged that “many people in our workforce would prefer not to work full-time but are keen to remain in the profession and it is important we can accommodate their preferences where possible”.

Workforce policy committee chair Rachael Wardell added: “As employers we are absolutely committed to creating the conditions where great social work can flourish, including by ensuring social workers are well supported, have manageable workloads and safe and appropriate places to work.

“However, we struggle to recruit and retain enough social workers nationally, especially after a decade of year-on-year cuts to local authority budgets which makes it harder to reliably sustain the ideal conditions.

“We need government to provide a strong, national voice that promotes the value of this transformative profession and the lasting positive impact social work can have on children and families.”