In order to practise safely and effectively social workers need a new contract with the government and with employers that gives them:
1.
The right to a manageable workload with a reasonable number and mix of cases. In high risk areas like child protection, mental health and older people%u2019s teams we believe the government needs to publish a recognised benchmark that practitioners can use to raise the alarm when caseloads are becoming too high.
2.
The right to be paid or have time off to compensate when excess hours are worked.
3.
The right to raise professional concerns when workloads become unmanageable to the highest level of their organisation, for example to an elected member, board member or trustee.
4.The right to a minimum of monthly
professional supervision from a qualified social worker of at least 90 minutes with more frequent supervision for newly qualified social workers.
5.The right to 10% of working time to be available for
continuing professional development and related activities like reflective practice, mentoring colleagues, supporting students and peer support.
6.The right to a functioning IT system and
adequate administrative support so that social workers can use their time on activity that requires their expertise.
7.
The right to safe working practices, which address the high risks social workers are exposed to from lone working, threats and attacks.
8.The right to
support to deal with stress and traumatic cases.
9. The right to
management training and realistic limits on the numbers of social workers that any one manager is expected to supervise.
10.The right to a
clear definition of respective roles between assistant practitioners and qualified social workers so that there is clarity about who is responsible for cases.
Click here to find out more about the Social Work Contract