capacity of that individual to give something back that is useful to somebody else and the capacity of the local community to give back support.’
With her need for evidence, Adi will be
evaluating the pilot’s eff ectiveness, the criteria for success and how much is dependent on the skills of the social worker. This work to justify social workers’ existence is against a backdrop of the 25% savings that Adi has to make in her department over three years from April 2011. To prepare for this, assessment and care management services were reorganised in November 2010. This saw 26 posts cut, the majority of which were vacant, which saved £900,000. With her belief that there is an important niche role for social work, Adi has done her best to protect social workers from cuts and her frontline staffi ng ratio now stands at 25% community care assessors (unqualifi ed staff ) and 75% social workers. ‘Those local authorities that are cutting back on social workers or reconfi guring the skills mix may be doing it for sound business cases,’ she says. ‘You have to look at your need locally. It is about getting the right balance, not because it is cheaper but because the confi guration is right for the services in your area.’ Rather than be concerned that the upcoming care and support White Paper could scupper her business case, Adi is reassured by care services minister Paul Burstow’s recent comments about social work. ‘He talked about social workers being confi dent and empowered in their safeguarding role and that resonates with what I’m saying,’ she says. ‘The circumstances of the situation
dictate who should assess, but in the risk management/protection area the adult social work skills should be the ones needed for safeguarding investigations. I hope that will be clarifi ed in the White Paper and that would support part of our business case.’ Adi says the omens for social work could be good: ‘That is where The College of Social Work
RESEARCH
POLICY
If you have a better skilled
workforce, the quality of what they do can improve and the quantity of ongoing care and support can diminish
is so important. Social workers need to be able to show that they are worth what they are paid and they add value. The College is a voice for that.’
Some may argue that Adi is setting the
bar too high, and she admits she has high expectations that have resulted in some of her staff leaving. ‘But we had two recruitment campaigns where we said clearly “if you want to do adult social work come to Sutton” and we have attracted some fantastic people. ‘If you have a better skilled workforce, the quality of what they do can improve and the quantity of ongoing care and support can diminish. For social workers that is part of the equation: better outcomes plus less cost equals win-win. ‘This isn’t about cutting services, it has got
to be about transformation; better outcomes in terms of what people want in their lives but through diff erent means. That is the only way people are going to buy the business case and we are going to get it through.’ SWM