Social workers urged to take on role as campaigners with launch of action pack

Social workers need to rediscover their role as campaigners, a leading member of the profession said this week.

Speaking during a seminar at the COMPASS Jobs Fair in London on Monday, Dr Peter Unwin, principal lecturer in social work at the University of Worcester and chair of the BASW Austerity Action Group said that he regretted how the collective element had largely gone out of social work.

‘I see a lot of good casework but I don’t see a lot of actual campaigning’. He said that one major reason for this was ‘too many interim posts where people do not stay long enough to become invested in making change and in addressing systemic issues.’

John McGowan general secretary of the Social Workers Union and Simon Francis of Campaign Collective described how the two organisations support and develop social workers’ campaigns, through a dedicated fund and other resources. Mr McGowan said, ‘Social workers come up with an idea for a campaign and [the SWU gives] the professional help and support to make that campaign a reality.’

Simon Francis said, ‘The SWU approach is unique in the trade union movement in that this is grassroots members deciding what are the issues that they are facing and then doing something about them.

‘Some can put up the idea, and then fade into the background; others want to be very involved -- meeting politicians, and acting as spokespeople. It’s up to the social workers themselves to decide how much they want to be part of the campaign.

One successful campaign tackled media portrayal of social workers in legal cases. ‘It started from the ways in which some social workers lives were ruined by media coverage and how the media were misreporting the role of social workers.’

Two social workers spoke out about their experiences and working with media industry regulators IMPRESS, IPSO and Ofcom, and the National Union of Journalists, the SWU created a guide to media reporting when it involved a legal case.

Mr Francis said, ‘We have seen employers use this guide to reporting on cases. And so far, we have not seen any cases where the rules and principles of the guide have been breached.’

He described how social workers’ experiences led to the Mouldy Homes campaign, an example of the added impact from joint campaigning. SWU research showed that 55 per cent of adult, child, and mental health social workers said that people they supported lived in cold, damp homes.

SWU worked with BASW and the Association of Educational Psychologists, and, supported by eleven other campaign groups, sent an open letter to political party leaders. It called for drastic and urgent action to improve energy efficiency in buildings, and for reform of the energy market to bring down the costs of energy bills.

A third example was the Scottish Bursaries campaign for social work students. ‘Led by two student social workers, it included a petition which became the second most signed petition on the Scottish parliament website. They secured a review of student social work finance and already it has achieved a £750 increase in the bursary – this campaign is continuing,’ Mr Francis said.

Dr Unwin described another current campaign, highlighting the impact of the policy of austerity and the cost of living crisis.

This campaign began in 2017 with ‘Boot Out Austerity’ when social workers and managers embarked on an awareness-raising walk from Birmingham to Liverpool.

It continues with Boot Out Austerity Marches On. This includes a guide with practical advice and updated research, to equip social workers who want to challenge systemic issues.

‘Nearly seven years later, austerity has been swapped for the cost of living crisis and if anything, things have got worse,’ the new pack says.

Dr Unwin said social workers could start by raising the issues with local voluntary groups, standing as councillors and going to their MPs’ surgeries to tell them about the effects on the people they work with. ‘As social workers you know these realities!’