Capital needs more social workers, not fewer

Published on Monday 1 September 2008 09:54

DISBELIEF and shock is the mood around Edinburgh's children's social work as the council tackles increased workloads by cutting staff.

This is not a reorganisation, it is a plain and simple cut. Councillor Marilyne MacLaren wants more children to have a social worker. So, astonishingly, she cuts the number of staff available.

It is not rocket science. Divide the number of children by the number of social workers and you find that caseloads far exceed the 14 children set by the council in 2004 after the Caleb Ness inquiry.

The spin is that they are only cutting 'managers'. The council's own report three years ago said a major problem was that social work was under-managed. Now they are cutting the management they put in to address that. The truth is that half of these job cuts are front-line team leaders. These are the very people who take the child protection decisions.

The people who the last inquiry said must be involved in high risk cases.

These are also the people who have years of experience and are supporting a workforce that is relatively newly qualified. They typically work a 50-hour week. They have kept the service afloat by carrying cases. With them gone, even more children will have no social worker.

The Edinburgh Inquiry in 1998 and an external audit in 2004 told the council they do not have enough social work staff. Two inspections say children are not getting help when they need it. So what is the council's answer? It increases caseloads beyond its own target and cuts staff.

We all hoped the days were over of cut after cut, of increasing workloads of high risk cases, and of politicians refusing to give staff the tools for the job, then blaming them when things went wrong. Clearly they are not.

Inquiry reports have made it clear that councillors cannot escape their responsibility for children in need.

Will councillors accept that responsibility when the next poor social worker is hung out to dry because of this council's decision?

&#149 John Ross is service conditions officer for UNISON's Edinburgh Branch