The Chairs of the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Workers have jointly written to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, and An Tánaiste, Simon Coveney TD, highlighting grave concerns about the potential impacts of Brexit on the social work profession on the island of Ireland.
The UK as a whole voted to leave the EU, although in both Scotland and Northern Ireland the majority vote was for remain. This statement provides an update on the BASW statement on Brexit issued in October 2017.
With one week to go before the BASW/SWU parliamentary reception – there is still time to urge your MP to find out more about the working conditions for social workers and to pledge their support.
BASW England members have been directly involved in this work and we call upon social workers and the wider social care sector to share and discuss these priorities.
BASW England welcomes the outcome of the consultation led by the Local Government Association (LGA) titled “The Lives We Want to Lead”. As we await the delayed government green paper, it is essential we consider the future of adult social care as the current crisis continues to escalate impacting upon individuals, families, carers and the social care workforce. Read our response.
The 2018 edition of the UK Social Workers: Working Conditions and Wellbeing survey by Dr. Jermaine Ravalier from Bath Spa University – co-commissioned by Social Workers Union (SWU) and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) – was launched today at a conference in Birmingham.
During the first part of my time as Chair I had the pleasure of working alongside Luke Geoghegan, who was elected to Council at the same time as me, as Chair of the Finance and Human Resources Committee. After being re-elected with me in 2016, Luke stood down having become our new Head of Policy and Research, where he is developing a tremendous programme of work together with Policy and Research Officer, Godfred Boahen. Between 1998 and 2008, Luke was the Chief Executive at Toynbee Hall, the first Settlement in London’s East End, where Clement Attlee worked before the First World War. I feel a strong connection with the East End Settlements now myself, living near to them and being a frequent visitor to Oxford House and St Margaret’s House in Bethnal Green. This is a companion post to my previous “From Attlee to eligibility criteria”, in which I looked at the balance in social work between collective and individualised approaches. Here we focus on the former, beginning with an exploration of how the Settlement Movement helped to develop social work as community work.
Not quite a joint blog post this time, but it was inspired by conversations I have been having with social care consultant and BASW member, Colin Slasberg. These linked with the activities of the Austerity Action Group, a talk I heard given by Professor Jonathan Dickens about social worker, Clement Attlee, and something I said in a recent interview with Professional Social Work editor, Shahid Naqvi. So I might be the only one hitting the keyboard here, but a lot of people have influenced this post. Including a Labour politician who has sadly recently passed away.