Political party leaders have been warned that vulnerable adults and children living in cold, damp, mouldy homes is a national scandal in an open letter from campaigners. The letter comes after research among members of the Social Workers Union found that two-thirds (61%) of children’s social workers witnessed young people living in conditions with excessive levels of mould. At a wider level, the study found that over half (55%) of adult, child and mental health social workers saw the people they support living in cold damp homes and many reported disabled people restricting their use of energy ..read more

SWU Assistant General Secretary Calum Gallacher reports on the first Diaspora Social Worker Conference in the UK, which was sponsored by the SWU Campaign Fund On the 18th of March 2024 SWU attended and witnessed a momentous event, the first ever Diaspora Social Work Conference held at Brunel University, Diaspora Dialogues: Celebrating Social Worker on the Move. It will not be the last, evidently there is a need to maintain momentum through campaigning for better support of social workers migrating to the UK and the BASW Diaspora SIG have made a remarkable start to increasing awareness and ..read more

The weeks surrounding World Social Work Day (WSWD) on March 19th were busy this year and SWU participated in several outstanding events. SWU spoke at the BASW Student Conference, Compass Birmingham Jobs Fair, and SASW WSWD webinar. SWU also sponsored and attended the inaugural Diaspora Dialogues: Celebrating Social Workers on the Move conference which SWU Assistant General Secretary Calum Gallacher reports on in his upcoming article. BASW UK Student Conference 2024 On March 16th at the BASW UK Student Conference, SWU Executive Members Anna Collins and Rebecca Austin shared learning from the ..read more

Councils and other employers of social workers will soon be able to sign up to a new pledge to celebrate neurodiversity in the profession. The pledge has been created by a group of neurodivergent social workers with the backing of the SWU Campaign Fund and the launch in April comes after a trailer video was released as part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024: The pledge’s authors hope it will encourage employers to recognise the contribution neurodivergent social workers bring to their roles and commit to act towards a neuro-inclusive workplace. Deb Solomon, a social worker from Derbysh ..read more

The Social Workers Union (SWU) and British Association of Social Workers (BASW) are proud to support the updating of this activism toolkit and hope you will join us for its launch on April 27 in Manchester. The Austerity Action Group (AAG) was born out of the 2017 Boot Out Austerity campaign and is funded by SWU. The AAG was created to tackle the issues of poverty and inequality that continue to negatively affect people who use social services and is a key vehicle in the ongoing campaign by SWU and BASW for a more socially just society. The updated Campaign Action Pack aims to facilitate and s ..read more

Exclusive research conducted by The Independent and the Social Workers Union (SWU) lays bare a social services sector on the brink of a breakdown and Dickensian living conditions. SWU invited all members to respond to a survey commissioned by The Independent between 25 January to 12 February 2024, and 716 social workers responded. Austerity has decimated social services and more funding is urgently required The Independent included the results of this survey in their March 30th news story “Social workers admit they can’t keep children safe after murder of Fin ..read more

In the last 18 months two-fifths (40%) of social workers have raised concerns about cases where they don’t believe appropriate action was taken. Of these, almost a third 29% have highlighted more than 5 cases in that time.  The findings come in an exclusive report in The Independent which commissioned research among members of the Social Workers Union (SWU). [1] The figures show a slight decrease from the last time SWU ran the survey in 2022 (when 48% reported raising concerns without then seeing action from bosses), the numbers of social workers who reported more than five cases has rema ..read more

The SWU Campaign Fund has kicked off its third year of activity with a range of developments on new and existing campaigns. The long running campaign to highlight the impact that media coverage can have on social workers was discussed at the Compass Jobs Fair in Birmingham on 18 March. In their “Media Coverage of Social Work – how do we improve this?” seminar, SWU General Secretary John McGowan and Campaign Collective Founder Member Simon Francis along with guests PSW Editor Shahid Naqvi and BASW Senior Press Officer Anthony Dhadwal examined what the regulators are doing an ..read more

As social workers our working lives and our personal lives are regularly impacted by politics. But do you “get it” when friends and colleagues use political jargon to discuss these impacts on families and communities, or can it be a confusing minefield? The Social Workers Union (SWU) motion at our 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) emphasised the importance of promoting knowledge around political ideologies and terminology, particularly given the impact of politically driven change upon the individuals, families, and communities with which we work as social workers.  As a result of this mo ..read more

Duc Tran, Co-Chair of the BASW Diaspora Social Workers Special Interest Group (SIG), reflects on union membership and invites diaspora social workers to the upcoming Diaspora Dialogues conference on March 18th. All the diaspora social workers that I know are committed and hardworking people who continue to make a positive contribution to the lives and communities in which they serve.  However, misunderstandings and misinterpretations due to linguistic and cultural factors can affect their practice and effectiveness.  This is a natural consequence of settlement and adjustment that com ..read more