UK Articles

From Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 Iain Ferguson notes the mood for stepping up action against the cuts at the biggest protest in Scotland for years Over 20,000 trade unionists, campaigners, pensioners, students and disabled and unemployed people took to the streets of Edinburgh on 23rd October 2010 against the cuts. The Scotland wide protest was called by the Scottish TUC. Many SWAN supporters were in attendance including a Student SWAN delegation and banner. Read More

From Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 West Midlands SWAN Student SWAN activists Sarah Kate Bennett and Catherine Dallat explain why they attended the 3rd October Right to Work demonstration at the Conservative Party Conference in BirminghamSarah writes: I didn’t come into social work for the power, the career development or because of recruitment adverts. I decided to train in this profession because I realised that without being educated in social policy, without hearing the truth about inequality and without understanding the importance of collective action – nothing can or will ever change. That’s why I attended the protest at the recent Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. Read More

From Newsletter #1 Spring 2010 Martin Chapman outlines the concerns of social workers in Swansea that personalisation will be a Trojan horse for cutsOver the last few years social workers and social work students have been attending the SWAN conferences across the UK. Whilst there had always been an intention to get something going locally it never quite happened. However as cuts loom across the council and with social workers continuing to feel dragged away from social work practice the situation has changed. Read More

From Newsletter #1 Spring 2010 Following the tragic deaths of the Serykh family, Elaine McKenna reports from a demonstration in Glasgow to protest against the treatment of asylum seekers Read More

From Newsletter #1 Spring 2010 Nick Burke reports from a West Midlands SWAN conference in January that debated how to resist attacks on public services and fight for a social work rooted in social justice Read More

From Newsletter #3 Spring 2011 Tony Taylor from In Defence of Youth Work reports on the fight to save person-centred youth work Read More

From Newsletter #3 Spring 2011 Michael Lavalette describes the enormous TUC demonstration in March against the Con-Dem Coalition’s austerity measures and discusses SWAN’s role in the wider anti-cuts movement The magnificent TUC demonstration against the government's cuts and austerity programme on 26th March 2011 opens up real possibilities for the campaigns against the cuts and for SWAN. Read More

From Newsletter #3 Spring 2011 Sophie Bardsley, social work student, and Chris Lyon from RAPAR, a Manchester-based human rights organisation, discuss the campaign against the deportation of Sulaiman Mohammed Read More

From SWAN Newsletter #3 Spring 2011 Jolyon Jones discusses SWAN’s role in challenging discriminatory cuts to services for unaccompanied migrant children in Solihull Read More

From Newsletter #2 Spring 2011 Bob Williams-Findlay from DPAC discusses disability and the struggle for a just and inclusive society Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) isn’t an organisation and nor does it claim to represent all disabled people; it is ... Read More

From SWAN Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 Simon Cardy reports on West Midlands SWAN’s involvement in a successful campaign against social work practices and the privatisation of social work with childrenThe idea of Social Work Practices (SWPs) first surfaced in a 2007 working party report commissioned by the previous New Labour government. Consistent Care Matters: Exploring the Potential of Social Work Practices outlined the problem of local authority care as follows: Read More

From Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 By Michael Lavalette, SWAN National Convenor So now we know. The ideologically driven cuts announced by the millionaire Chancellor George Osborne on the 20 October represent the biggest cuts in public spending since the Second World War. The figures are so large as to be almost incomprehensible. The cuts are a clear attempt to abolish the welfare state. Read More

From Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 By Peter Beresford, Chair of Shaping Our Lives national service user network and SWAN steering committee member.No matter what service users and campaigners have been saying for months about the divisive and destructive effects of the Coalition government’s policies and planned cuts, it’s now official! The Institute of Fiscal Studies makes clear that the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) is the opposite of the government’s promised ‘fair’. Read More