The Impact of Spending Cuts

Social Work Survey – The Impact of Spending Cuts…

Key Findings:

• 40% of social workers have seen cuts to front-line staff in their team, with 8 out of 10 saying this has had a negative effect on their ability to work effectively.
• 43% said there have been cuts to management posts in their team, with almost 7 out of 10 saying this has had a negative effect on their ability to do their job effectively.
• The most common area for cuts was in administrative and support roles, with 55% of those surveyed saying there had been cuts to these posts in their team. 9 out of 10 said this had had a negative effect on their ability to do their job effectively.

With many social workers experiencing high caseloads, it is no surprise that cutting frontline staff has a negative impact. Meanwhile, cuts to support staff have led to increased pressure on many social workers, leaving them with more administrative tasks to complete and less time to spend with service users.

For more detail, click the link below:

Factsheet: Social Work Survey findings related the impact of spending cuts.

Liquid Personnel’s view of the results:

“Social work is an essential frontline service, and the government have not fulfilled their promises to protect it, leaving councils to make very tough decisions about funding.”

“The resulting cuts have left social workers feeling betrayed, and if this is not addressed, we will struggle to retain the current crop of skilled social workers, let alone attract new people to the profession.”

“Cutting support staff is clearly a false economy, as social workers will be able to spend less time with service users, resulting in poorer standards of practice.”

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