Following on from our annual conference – Tomorrow’s World for Social Work in Wales, we are pleased to share the learning this week by focusing on one of the keynote addresses made by Ian Rees, Consultant Social Worker at Neath Port Talbot (NPT) local authority. Poverty Aware Practice is an area Ian has been focusing on for some years and he shared with us some key learning on how to ensure our practice is poverty informed and how we can make a difference by addressing inequality to make positive impacts for people, families and communities.
Poverty is often at the heart of what we do when we work with people every day and Ian’s presentation invited us to think about the impact this has on our everyday practice and importantly how we can ensure that our practice is informed by the long-term implications and impact of poverty whilst also utilising our role to support communities. Ultimately, he challenged us to think through – How can social work address deep inequalities through practice community work?
Charting the moral, political and economic basis of poverty and societies commitment to addressing inequality arising from poverty, Ian Rees invited us to consider where does social work and by implication social work practitioners position themselves in addressing deep structural poverty which can impact on daily lives, behaviours and decision making?
‘Poverty is trauma. It has a negative impact on individuals, families and communities. Poverty like suicide is avoidable.’
Ian outlined initiatives he had undertaken to address the increasing levels of Looked After children and how working with the data, public health, transport and education department, NPT transformed the way it works and importantly, the way it approaches working with and for people.
Poverty Informed Practice is essential in supporting people at times of need. It also requires us to work with communities, long term to support and engage in ways that at times may seem unimaginable. Take a look at Ian’s conference slides and take time to consider the small steps needed to change your everyday practice.
Further resources can be found below:
Ian Rees’s PowerPoint slides from the BASW Cymru Annual Conference can be found online.
The Anti-Poverty Practice Guide for Social Work | BASW
BASW Poverty Aware Practice Resources
BBC iPlayer: Don’t Take Our Kids (a documentary on how NPT changed the outcomes for families)
Watch out for our practice workshops in the autumn of 2025 where we will be running a series of poverty informed practice workshops where we will come together to explore how we can embed poverty informed practice in our day-to-day practices. Current practice workshops are already live!
BASW Cymru will be working with our members to develop our call for action to influence key stakeholders to commit to a long-term plan to implement poverty informed practice.
Join us in this action by joining BASW / BASW Cymru today!
Or, join us in one of our many BASW Cymru events.
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