NOTES of LABOUR SOCIAL WORK GROUP MEMBERS’ MEETING 

WEDNESDAY 13 DECEMBER, PORTCULLIS HOUSE, WESTMINSTER

There was a preliminary ‘catch up’ meeting at café of Methodist Central Hall – a good opportunity to ‘touch base’ since committee members and those actively engaged in preparing policy submissions over Zoom had not managed to meet up in person since our last pre-Covid members’ meeting in Westminster in later 2019. 16 of us were there- a good mix across social work practice, research and policy with children and adults, those with active roles in practice and others with the voluntary/ advocacy groups, and research. Interesting conversations between those in more or less active Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs), some with Labour MPs and others hopeful of selecting candidates with a chance of being elected. Anne was also able to pass on information/ reflexions from 2023 Labour National Conference. 

Co-hosts for members’ meeting (2-3.30) were (Lord) Mike Watson and
Emma Lewell-Buck MP.  (Baroness) Hilary Armstrong (LSWG Patron) Andrew Gwynne (Shadow Care Minister) and Rachael Macaskill (MP for York) contributed to discussion and were there for most of the meeting. 

Additionally present were 18 members / supporters. 8 members/ supporters (including Shadow Children’s Minister Helen Hayes and 4 other parliamentarians) sent messages that they would have liked to come but were unwell/ couldn’t make the time. 

The meeting was haired by Dr Anne Cullen Chair of Labour Social Work Group and Policy Officer Banbury CLP 

Mike Watson welcomed those attending and introduced the two speakers.

Anna Dixon MBE Anna outlined her over 25 years’ experience in health and social care, including key roles as Director of Strategy and Chief Analyst at the Department of Health, Director of Policy at the King’s Fund and Chief Executive of the Centre for Ageing Better. Of most relevance to Labour’s future plans, she chaired the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care (June 2021-Jan 2023) is the Labour parliamentary candidate for Shipley constituency in West Yorkshire and has a good chance of being elected as its MP. She noted that there is a high likelihood of a future Labour Government following the main recommendation of the Fabian Society Report on adult social care ‘Support Guaranteed’ that there should be a National Care Service alongside the NHS, but with important differences from the NHS in terms of how the service is provided locally. 

In particular Anna drew on the work she had done as part of the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care. She emphasised the need to recognise that social care is more than personal care, and the need to start from a position of trust between the people who provide and use care and support, with ‘co-production’ at its heart. She raised the question for attendees- what will be the role of social workers in providing this service in the future?

Anna has kindly provided the following links to some of the work that she referenced:

Initial report of the Archbishops’ Commission; Reimagining Care Commission

https://www.churchofengland.org/about/archbishops-commissions/reimagining-care/final-

report-reimagining-care-commission

ADASS Time to act: a roadmap for reforming care and support in England

Click to access adass-time-to-act-april-2023.pdf

House of Lords Adult Social Care Committee: A “gloriously ordinary life’’: spotlight on

adult social care

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldadultsoc/99/9902.htm

Fabian Society: Supported guaranteed: the roadmap to a National Care Service

Ray Jones (Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Kingston University and St. George’s, University of London, and a registered social worker has 50 plus years’ experience in children’s and adults’ social work and social care as a residential worker, social work practitioner, senior manager, teacher and researcher. He has led inquiries following the deaths of children and adults and from 2010 until 2016, and oversaw children’s services and child protection improvement in five areas of England. In 2013-2014 he was appointed by the Welsh Assembly to advise on the Welsh Social Services and Well-Being Bill. He is the author of eight books including ‘The Story of Baby P: Setting the Record Straight’ (2014); ‘In Whose Interest? The Privatisation of Child Protection and Social Work’ (2017) and ‘A History of the Personal Social Services in England’ (2020). In 2022 he was appointed to undertake the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in Northern Ireland. 

Under the heading ‘The politically chosen austerity targeted at poor families and public services’ Ray provided stark data and evidence of the decline in services for the increasing numbers of children and families going through difficult times since the end of the last Labour Government. (His briefing note is on LSWG website and will be sent to key members of the Labour Shadow team). He particularly highlighted the skew of funding and services toward more coercive child protection services (a 152% increase in child protection investigations between 2009 and 2023 and a 41% increase in children in care (especially older children). To the question, “Does investment in help for families make a difference?” he provided evidence for a clear “Yes”. He also linked the evidence of deteriorating services and the slewing of funding away from family support with evidence about the growth of privatised provision of services for children in care. His messages for the next Labour Government: Tackle child poverty: help rather than threaten children and families; rebuild local public services with sustainable funding; drive efficiency and effectiveness by stopping the flow of public funding to remotely owned private companies and build local, integrated teams and services. He concluded with this overarching statement about the necessity of changing the narrative: Even when the economy is in difficulty (actually wrecked in 2008 by the bankers, then by politically-chosen austerity, Brexit, and Truss – along with the pandemic) and money is tight Labour could and ought to start changing the narrative to profile that public services are a positive good,  that big profit taking out of adults and children’s social care is unwelcomed and a hindrance, and that children and families immersed in poverty need help rather than blame and stigmatisation.(for Ray Jones’ Power Point presentation email:  laboursocialworkgroup@gmail.com

Andrew Gwynne led off a lively discussion on the place of social work within a Labour Government’s plans for adults’ and child and family social work and social care services. Andrew followed on from Anna to emphasise that the sort of National Care service for adults the Shadow team are working towards must avoid the monolithic tendencies of the NHS. Whilst there will be a key role for Central Government in ensuring funding and setting the expectations, over-arching values and principles of an inclusive and rights-based service, it will be for local authorities and other public and voluntary sector organisations and service user led groups to decide the shape of and ensure the sensitive delivery of local services. He also picked up on the theme of the negative impact of poverty, inadequate housing and poor community infrastructure that resulted in too great a use of residential care and of the ‘cliff-edge’ as young people move from children’s to adult’s services. 

Contributions were made by members and parliamentarians and there was a notable recognition of   the inter-connectedness of community and residential care services for children and families, disabled adults and elders. There was reluctant acceptance that progress can’t be as speedy as needed because of this government’s financial mismanagement, and that a ten year programme will be needed to get to the quality of service needed. Those actively involved in providing or researching services pointed to the specific contributions of social workers. Whether at the assessment stage of a service or providing longer-term support, care or therapy, time is needed for trusting relationships to be established between the person needing the service, family members and fellow professionals.  Rushed decisions too often result in getting the balance wrong between risk and personal/family choice and usually come unstuck, or result in unnecessary distress and unhappiness. Social workers need to know that employer support will be available to them as they work with family members in taking decisions that that may involve an element of risk. 

Points raised were (but see also attached LSWG’s draft briefing for a Labour social work and social care service): 

• Important to broaden the discourse from ‘social care’ – too often seen as actual physical / residential care (at its worst ‘bed-blocking’) to all the other services in the community or for those in residential care that are necessary for ‘a gloriously ordinary life’. 
• For working age adults with disabilities, most of whom have been badly impacted on by rises in cost of living, their access to local authority services is  severely challenged because they are required to contribute to the cost of the delivery of that these  necessary support services from diminished incomes. 
• Labour can’t just settle for slight adjustments to the services they will inherit. Too much is wrong with present government services across adults’ and children’s social services. Big changes are needed. This does not need major legislative change (though some changes in mental health legislation are urgently needed) but rather changes in the way funding decisions are made and the ways in which present legislation is implemented. 
• In adults’ and children’s services better ways are needed for balancing the ‘risk appetite’ of politicians and senior managers, if the agreed policy and practice move towards ‘co-production’, and greater emphasis on community-based family support services are to be achieved.  
•  Team work across statutory and voluntary ‘universal’ and ‘targeted’ services is essential but greater recognition is needed, by Labour Party national and local politicians and policy makers of the essential part to be played by qualified social workers in achieving broad policy aims. More emphasis on community social work is needed, in initial and post qualifying training, and in funding allocation 
• In essence, social workers are an essential part of the service to people with complex needs. To do this, both  at the assessment stage and in providing longer term skilled assistance, they need time to get alongside adults and children, to establish trusting relationships. They use their knowledge and skills to work with family members not only on the task of risk assessment but also in continuing risk management. 
• A recently published research report has really brought into focus the special contribution of social workers to services for older people (‘Social work with older people research’ https://swopresearch.wordpress.com/research-findings/
• Social workers also have skills in communicating with community groups and across professions, and in ensuring that the voices of those who need services are heard and acted on. 
• To realise its aims for improved services, a Labour Government must take urgent action on high social worker vacancy rates, and over-reliance on agency workers which result in damaging frequent changes of social workers.
• Links need to be strengthened now between Unions, LGA and professional associations (BASW, ADCS, ADASS) to be ready with policies to counteract serious recruitment and retention problems. As well as making up salary cuts, and improving in-service support and supervision, there are problems with initial training (including student bursaries) and opportunities for specialist and advanced post qualifying training. 
• There was broad agreement that an ‘elephant in the room’ when considering how to repair damage and move forward for local authority adult’s and children’s social work and social care services is the wreckage that is the present system of local government funding, But there are no clear indications of how a Labour government will tackle what has become a serious limitation to the necessary moves forward.  
•  A Labour Government must work with LGA to reduce the scandalous waste of funds going to private residential care providers. Lessons can be learned from those local authorities (across the UK nations) that are building in-house children’s homes, and also from the Labour Government in Wales that is in the process of ending the use of private for-profit children’s homes. This is especially the case with respect to children in care, disabled children and adults. Partnership with charitable and service user groups is an important way forward.

Anne thanked Mike Watson and Emma Lewell-Buck and their PAs for hosting the meeting and for their continuing support, advice and encouragement to the group (including willingness to ask Parliamentary Questions, and including material from our briefings in their speeches to Parliament. She also thanked Hilary Armstrong for her continuing support as Patron and Hilary, Andrew Gwynne and Rachael Maskell for contributions from their perspectives as parliamentarians and as constituency members. Special thanks to Ray Jones and Anna Dixon for important insights and pointers to way forward. And best wishes to Anna in her election campaign.