26/09/2016
4 Biggest Social Work Stories You Might Have Missed Last Week (26/09/16)...
The president of the High Court's family division has given dire warnings about the system's capacity to cope, and more social workers are backing an initiative to achieve more meaningful outcomes in adult care. Read on for these stories, and more...
4. Children's Commissioner Appoints Sir Martin Narey as Advisor
The Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield has appointed former Barnardo's chief executive Sir Martin Narey as her advisor.
Narey will join former Association of Drectors of Children's Services president Alison O'Sullivan, chief executive of the government's Behaviour Insight Unit David Halpern, and Alice Webb, director of children's output at the BBC.
These four figures will act as the commissioner's national advisory board, as per the Children and Families Act 2014, and will aid Longfield delivering her five-year plan, Ambition for Children.
Click here to read more about this story on Children and Young People Now.
3. Sir James Munby: Social Work Is Facing a Crisis with No Clear Strategy
The president of the High Court's family division has warned that courts, barristers and local authorities are struggling to cope with an ever-increasing number of care cases, and are already "at full stretch."
Sir James' warning came after another record month for care applications - with 2016-17 looking like a record year - and was set against a backdrop of care applications doubling over the last 10 years.
He went on to say that there likely won't be an increase in funding to match these workloads, advocating that more research must be performed to establish the factors behind the marked rise, so it can tackled with a clear strategy.
2. Clips from Jo Brand's Channel 4 Social Work Comedy Released
Clips from 'Damned,' Jo Brand's new comedy about social work on Channel 4, have been released to Community Care.
The comedy is set in a children's services, and sees the comedienne star alongside QI mainstay and Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies, with Brand hoping it will shine a light on the day-to-day running of a social work as a department and shake off the public's negative stereotypes of the profession.
The first episode of 'Damned' is set to air on Tuesday September 27th at 10pm.
1. ADASS: More Social Workers Backing 'Making Safeguarding Personal'
Increasing numbers of social workers are embracing the Making Safeguarding Personal initative because it reflects their core values, according to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
Of its survey of 115 councils, 50% of authorities said their social workers had reacted 'very positively' to the initiative, which was introduced in 2010 to facilitate social workers in using their skills to achieve meaningful outcomes for people.
Reports from the survey suggested the reason for the positive statistics was that social workers felt that rather than going through bureaucratic processes, they were helping people take control of their own lives,
Attained audited status from the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation)
Ranked among the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 2015
Ranked among the UK's Best 100 Small Companies to Work For by the Sunday Times
Winners of the Best Back Office Support Team Award and Best People Development Business Award at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals Awards 2016.
Holders of Investors in People status
Assessed and registered against the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Standard
Ranked in the UK's Best Workplaces Awards (Medium) 2016
Ranked in the Greater Manchester Fastest 50
Winners of "Best Large Agency" at the Recruitment Business Awards 2015