UNISON Scotland’s Social Work Issues Group has for some time recognised that the context within which professional social work is being practised currently is perhaps the most challenging since its inception. Lack of resources in local government, the NHS and the third sector has increased pressure on social work staff significantly, including higher caseloads, increased unpaid work out of hours and stress at an all-time high.
Years of austerity, the impact of Covid-19, increased energy prices and a cost-of-living crisis have, at the same time, increased the number of people within our communities living in poverty and disadvantage.
One of the proposals to come out of the discussions on a National Care Service has been a National Social Work Agency (NSWA). UNISON Scotland has participated in the NSWA Advisory Group and a series of working groups, with an aim to influence these new developments so that they act the interests of our social work members and the people they support. We have been keen that a National Social Work Agency must champion social work rather than being just another layer of bureaucracy.
In order to establish a blueprint for the kind of social work we want to see in Scotland, the NSWA Leadership and Culture sub-group conducted a survey of social work members on a series of statements across three headings, the purpose of social work, how we work and leading and supporting social work. UNISON was very closely involved in this, working collaboratively with Social Work Scotland and SASW. We sent out the survey to all our members across the three organisations and many UNISON members responded.
This report is a qualitative analysis of the open-ended qualitative responses provided from three questions within the survey, which was put together by Dr Gillian MacIntyre, and Dr Ailsa Stewart, both of the University of Strathclyde. The three questions considered within this report are:
- Do the statements reflect what you’d want the social work profession to look like from the perspective of a practitioner?
- Is there anything missing from the statements that you would like to see included?
- Is there anything else you’d like to say about the statements?
Download the What Needs to Happen Now survey report at What-needs-to-happen-now-survey.pdf (socialworkscotland.org)