SASW cautions against overreaction to Western Isles restructuring

7th November 2011

The Scottish Association of Social Workers (SASW – part of BASW) has said that critics of the replacement of qualified social workers with social care assessors in working with adults at risk in the Western Isles need to recognise the ongoing training that replacement staff are receiving, as well the unique characteristics of island communities.

Commenting in the wake of criticisms by Andrew Walker, a former team manager at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council in the Western Isles, that complex assessment work should be carried out by qualified social workers, SASW manager Ruth Stark pointed to evidence that the social care assessors, who are registered with the Scottish Social Care Council, were receiving ongoing training and management support. “Investment by local authorities in training local people through the Open University is one example of the development in Scotland that is envied by other parts of the UK where meeting people’s needs in the community is a significant challenge.”

Following Mr Walker’s criticisms of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council in PSW last month and on BASW’s online news service, Ms Stark has spoken to staff on the frontline in the Western Isles, discussions that prompted her to caution against an overreaction. “In small communities news travels fast and indeed this is the impact of Andrew Walker’s letter to the Council. It is important to also hear the response from the Council about investment in training staff and the complexity of providing such complex services in such small communities. The debate on how this is done, rising to the challenge of community capacity building, has to be done by building on the strengths of local communities and adding to their competencies through additional training and investment in staff and local people.”

Mr Walker wrote the council to express his concern that the adult community care team covering the Uist and Barra areas of the Western Isles, in which he was employed until he resigned in April, now employs one senior social worker compared with five previously. Mr Walker was also very critical of moves to raise thresholds so that only those with critical needs receive social care support help. The changes, he argued, would have a ‘deleterious impact’ on the standard of social care services.

In a statement, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council rejected Mr Walker’s suggestion that the restructuring was a cost-cutting measure and said assessment capacity had been ‘substantially increased’ by the changes. ‘The social care assessors, located within the Community Care Service, have proved to be of huge benefit, relieving social workers of non-complex cases and enabling them to concentrate on complex cases appropriate to their qualifications and grade,’ it said.

Ms Stark said the debate raised important issues about wider policy developments and the specific challenges of working with island communities.

“In 2006 the Changing Lives Review clearly stated that ‘more of the same won’t do’, and stressed the importance of community capacity building to meet people’s needs in changing demographic circumstances in Scotland where we have extensive rural and island communities where the type of urban design of social work services is inappropriate,” she said.

“Not only are their language differences but also cultural differences that have to be understood in helping people find solutions to their particular dilemmas. BASW recently published a very helpful book by Colin Turbett on Rural Social Work In Scotland that has added significantly to our knowledge base on how best to meet people’s needs.

“It was with great pleasure that SASW Committee awarded the senior social worker from Barra a Highly Commended Award in this year’s SASW Annual Social Worker of the Year Awards, nominated by service users, for the great steps forward they have made in modernising and meeting the challenge of competent community capacity building. There are some things we have done very well in the past 40 years but we cannot stand still and we have to move on as our demographic needs change.

“The debate should continue about how to provide good quality services in different economic circumstances but we must include in that debate the role of the communities in helping meet their member’s needs.”