Report of the 21st Century Socoiarkl WReview changing l ives © Crown copyright 2006 This document iso a lavsai lable on theo Sttcish Eexcutiev website: www.scotland.ogv.uk Astron B43115 001/6 Further oc pies aer avai lable ofrm Blackwells’ Bookshop 53 South Briedg Edinbugrh EH1 1YS Telephone odrers and enquir ies ISBN 0-7559-4824-6 0131 622 8283 or 013212 6 8258 Fax odr ers 0131 575 8149 Email odrers Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review changing lives Scottish Executive, Edinburgh 2006 © Crown copyright 2006 ISBN: 0-7559-4824-6 Scottish Executive St Andrew’s House Edinburgh EH1 3DG Produced for the Scottish Executive by Astron B43115 1/06 Published by the Scottish Executive Further copies are available from Blackwell's Bookshop 53 South Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1YS The text pages of this document are printed on recycled paper and are 100% recyclable Contents Page Foreword by William Roe Chair of 21st Century Social Work Review Group 2 Introduction for users and carers to Changing Lives from the User and Carer Panel 4 Remit, approach & definitions 6 Executive Summary 8 Chapter 1 Messages from the 21st Century Social Work Review 10 Chapter 2 Social work now and in the future 13 Chapter 3 A changing context for social work: challenges and opportunities 17 Chapter 4 The role of the social worker 26 Chapter 5 Building capacity to deliver personalised services 32 Chapter 6 Building the capacity of the workforce 49 Chapter 7 Building capacity for sustainable change 65 Annex A Methods and evidence 77 Annex B Review group and sub group membership 84 Annex C References 91 Annex D Summary of recommendations 93 1 Changing Lives Changing Lives foreword William Roe – Chair I am delighted to present Changing Lives. This report is the culmination of 12 months of intensive work which has taken us across the length and breadth Our choice of Changing Lives as a title of Scotland. The range of opinion and reflects the very strong and consistent evidence we’ve needed to consider messages of the need for has been vast. I would like to record transformational change. Social work is my warmest thanks and appreciation life-changing work. But now, at the start to everyone who helped us in our of the 21st century, social work itself work. needs to change so that it can match our country’s expectations for high quality, We have listened to the views of accessible, responsive and personalised people who use and deliver social work services. In the four decades since the services and to many other present pattern of social work services professionals and organisations. We was created, our society has changed have seen examples of excellent out of all recognition. Looking forward practice as well as much that gives us 20 years, we see a Scotland that will cause for concern. change yet further and faster. Social work services will need to match that We’ve considered research, evidence pace of change, in what they do, how of best practice and views from leading they are led, organised and delivered, opinion makers, people who use and how they contribute to improving the services and their carers and from the well-being of people and communities. general public. We have debated the big issues that affect not only social Our lives are changing: we are work, but all public services. We have becoming increasingly well informed considered the implications of a and demanding consumers, yet our changing population, of changing changing lives and circumstances expectations and of an increasingly present increasingly complex problems fragmented society. in a fragmented and ageing society. Throughout our work, the evidence we The lives of people who use services have considered has been remarkably and their carers need to change, consistent in its messages. We can giving them a stronger role in the way therefore draw our conclusions, and services are designed and delivered. the recommendations flowing from We will expect services which are them, with confidence. personalised to meet our needs and 2 Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review Technology will change our lives: Technology is not a panacea for all our problems but it offers major opportunities to re-think how we organise and deliver services. 21st century social work services will need to be at the forefront In the summer of 2004 I was handed a of using technologies to support their challenging brief by Scottish Ministers, to life-changing work. chair the 21st Century Social Work Review. In Changing Lives we set out a new The review group was asked to take a direction for social work services in fundamental look at all aspects of social Scotland based on the strong core work and make recommendations on how values of inclusiveness and meeting services should be developed to meet the the whole needs of individuals and future needs of Scotland’s people. families. We seek to equip social work services to rise to the challenge of supporting and protecting our most vulnerable people and communities in the early part of the 21st century. aspirations, where solutions to our Social work has a bright and exciting problems are co-produced with future. Changing Lives gives us a once professional workers. in a generation opportunity to deliver the kind of social work services Partnerships between social work Scotland needs. services and other public, private and voluntary agencies need to Putting our recommendations into change: Social work services alone practice will not be easy. It will require cannot solve society’s problems. We long term commitment and vision from need to harness all our resources and the Scottish Executive, from the leaders expertise to design services around the of the profession, from all those who needs of people, delivering the right work in or with social work services and outcomes for the people who use from the people who use services, them. That means finding new ways of either voluntarily or as a result of working that position social work statutory orders. If fully implemented, services alongside the work of their they will change the way services are partners in the public, voluntary and designed and delivered, enabling private sectors. Together we will need workers to make a fundamental to shift the balance towards a much difference to the lives of the individuals, greater focus on preventing problems families and communities they serve. and intervening early to resolve them. They will deliver life changing services that are fit for the future. Services we Our workforce is changing: The can all be proud of. workforce of the future will need to work smarter, developing new roles and new ways of working, if it is to meet changing demands. Workers will need to be supported and developed by their employers to take on new responsibilities, to be innovative and to strive for excellence. We will need clear William Roe – Chair and visionary leadership at all levels to 21st Century Social Work Review make sure that everyone’s knowledge and skills are used effectively. 3 Changing Lives introduction for users and carers to changing lives from the User and Carer Panel About this introduction One of the key groups that worked This introduction, for the report on the with the review was a panel of people social work review, is written for users who use social work services and of social work services and family carers. carers called the User and Carer Panel. It will explain where the review and This introduction has been written by report came from and why it is important the Panel. to you. This is not a summary of the report. This introduction concentrates If you use services, or are a carer, on some of the messages in the report this is what you can expect from that we think are important for you. services in future: The report says that social work Why was there a 21st Century Social services have to be more responsible Work Review? for the services they provide. The review of social work happened because people felt services weren’t The person is at the heart of working well enough: Scotland has everything. This means that your changed, and what people needed from service should start from where you services has changed as well. Also, are. It means services must see there are fewer taxpayers and more “service users” as people, and not just people needing services, so there is not see their labels. Social workers need to enough money to fund these services. think about what difference it makes to the person using services or carer. The purpose of the review was to find better ways of working for services and social workers, and to find ways of using resources better. Where does the report come from? The report comes from the work done in the review on how social work services and social workers could give better services to people. Lots of people were asked about what they thought of social work services and social workers. 4 Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review To make all this happen, you can expect that social workers will have more responsibility, and have more power to make their own decisions. Social workers will have less red tape: this means social workers doing more social work, and less paperwork. The result will be a speedier, more efficient service. You will have more continuity in your service – skilled workers will get the chance to stay on the front line. And there will be committed support for workers to develop existing and new skills. So there is a better chance that you will have a more understanding worker. You can expect a better match between you and your social worker. To make this happen you will need to have more People that use services and family say in your own assessments. That carers will have more control over the way, you will be more likely to get the services they are getting. “Citizen right service earlier. leadership” will become important, this means people having more of a say and taking more of a lead in planning services, like: ● More say in your own assessments ● More flexible services like Local Area Coordination ● More panels like the User and Carer Panel! Finally, the Panel feels that we’ve made You can expect services to get better a difference by being part of the at preventing a crisis, rather than review. We feel that our voice has been waiting for it to happen. This means heard and our ideas have been services working with other agencies included in the report. The Panel better. There will be a quicker response welcomes the report. However, there’s from services. Also social work will be still a lot to do before these changes based more where people are, like will happen – we’d better get started! community centres for example. 5 Changing Lives Remit, approach & definitions 6 Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review The 21st Century Social Work Review Terminology and scope was commissioned by Ministers in the Although the review has looked across summer of 2004. the breadth of social work services, it has not been our remit to look in detail Its overall aim was to take a at the full range of social care services. fundamental look at all aspects of social work in order to strengthen its When we refer to social work contribution to the delivery of services, we refer to all services integrated services. provided by local authorities and to commissioned services provided by It had six main objectives: the voluntary and private sectors to ● To clearly define the role and meet the identified needs of the purpose of social workers and the communities they serve. social work profession ● To identify improvements in the When we refer to social workers we organisation and delivery of social refer to those people who hold a work services recognised social work professional ● To develop a strong quality qualification and a current registration improvement framework and culture, with the Scottish Social Services supported by robust inspection Council. ● To strengthen leadership and management giving clear direction When we refer to the social service to the service workforce, we refer to the whole ● To ensure a competent and workforce of people engaged in the confident workforce delivery of social work services, ● To review and if necessary to whoever their employer may be. The modernise legislation. social service workforce as defined in The review has been led and overseen legislation includes the early education by an independent review group, and child care workers, which is subject supported by a series of working to a separate review and excludes other groups reporting to it: professionals such as occupational ● Role of the social worker sub group therapists. For our purposes, we ● Performance improvement sub group consider the workforce to be made up ● Leadership and management sub group of social workers, occupational ● Stakeholder group therapists and other professionals, ● Users and carers panel. social work and occupational therapy assistants, care workers, residential Annex C sets out the membership of care staff and support staff. the various groups. Annex B summarises the various sources of evidence considered in reaching our conclusions. The main sources of evidence are available in full on the accompanying CD or the 21st Century Social Work Review website www.21csocialwork.org.uk 7