Could social work play a bigger role in this parliament?

Notable figures from the social work sector have been elected to Parliament following the General Election earlier this month.

Janet Daby, MP for Lewisham East since 2018 and a former social worker, was re-elected and appointed to the Department for Education team working under Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that her role would be as Minister for Children and Families, with responsibilities including children’s social care, kinship care and foster care, and the children’s social care workforce.

Ms Daby took part in an event earlier this month with the aim of “resetting relationship” with stakeholders, alongside Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, having previously used her first official visit to meet with a group of kinship carers to hear emotional stories of children being raised by relatives and family friends.

Josh MacAlister, Founder and former CEO of fast-track training organisation Frontline, also joins the Labour benches as the first MP for newly-created constituency Whitehaven and Workington.

Mr MacAlister led the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which gave its final recommendations in 2022, using his maiden speech in parliament to call the disadvantage faced by the care experienced community “the civil rights issue of our time”.

“I may be new to this house, but I’m not new to pushing governments to get things done,” MacAlister said.

“I founded and led a national charity to get more people into fulfilling careers on the front line of children’s social work to ensure that every vulnerable child has a champion fighting their corner. From that I was asked by the last Government to chair a landmark independent review into the children’s social care system

“This review led me to find that the disadvantage faced by the care experienced community in our country should be the civil rights issue of our time. Evidence of that disadvantage is found in worse education outcomes, worse health outcomes, and shorter lives lived.

“But that disadvantage is fuelled by something politicians often find hard to discuss – and certainly MPs find too hard to mention in this chamber – which is the absence of love. I believe every child has the right to be loved and we’ve got the ability to build a care system that can provide it for them. I hope that this Parliament will take up the challenge of addressing this moral outrage. The problem is huge, but the solutions are known. And with enough will, tens of thousands of lives can be transformed.”

Become, the national charity for children in care and care leavers, welcomed the mention and renewed focus on the reforms.

“We're delighted to see Josh MacAlister MP mention the urgent reforms needed to the care system in his maiden speech in Parliament,” they posted on social media.