If you wish to make contact with the Social Work Action Network (SWAN) please email the National Convenor or Deputy Convenor by clicking here and then on the national steering committee link.
Year: 2011
Please respond International Definition of Social Work
We would also encourage you to contribute individually to the debates below.
The deadlines for contributed to the debates below is 30th April 2011. Please ignore any earlier stated deadlines in the documentation; they are now superseded.
1. The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) have been developing a ‘Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development’ since 2010. The final version is due to be submitted to international organisations – UN, African Union, European Union, Mercosur, ASEAN etc – on 20 March 2012.
We encourage you to visit the following site, read the content and comment on the proposals:
http://www.globalsocialagenda.org/
Please read these with a critical eye and comment. For instance, the inclusion of ‘Terrorism and modes of response by states and the modalities of handling global conflicts’, under Dignity and worth of the person, is something you may wish to comment upon.
Please use the comments box at the bottom of the web page to add your thoughts.
2. The international definition of social work, last agreed in 2001, is reviewed every ten years. It is under debate again now.
This definition has been an asset in promoting and defending radical social work. Therefore, is it extremely important that this definition is strengthened, not weakened.
You can access the English version of the questionnaire produced to comment on the international definition of social work here:
Please send the completed forms back to Jan Agten (jan.agten@khk.be) or Nicolai Paulsen (nipa@ucl.dk).
Other information is here:
Panorama, Castlebeck and Privatisation
One of the most shocking things the Panorama programme showed, aside from the abuse and torture itself, was the failure of the regulator, the Care Quality Commission to firstly notice any of these issues during their inspections, and secondly to have refused to investigate the complaints that were made by the Senior Nurse who made clear allegations of abuse. It is salutary to note that if the BBC Panorama team had not made this documentary, all of those things that were shown on this programme would still be going on, with the public none the wiser.
The BBC programme implicity exposes a major crisis in the inspection system – though for anyone who has seen the tickbox approach adopted by many inspectors this might not probably come as that much of a surprise. The Grapevine learning disability charity’s proposal of User-Led inspections represents an important reform which SWAN could debate and campaign for (http://www.grapevinecovandwarks.org/index.aspx).
In a discussion of these issues in 2008 in the British Journal of Social Work Professor Malcolm Carey noted that “key sectors of social care are now dominated by business interests, many of which, in principle, seek to gain profits” (2008:919):
Within the private sector dominated market of residential and nursing home care, complex and convoluted rituals of mergers, take-overs, sales and closures have continued…As a consequence such markets have helped to generate unstable (and therefore potentially unsafe) living and ‘support’ environments for many residents. For example, recent research has highlighted how many private sector providers have failed to meet basic standards of care…Also recent plans by the Commission for Social Care Inspection to reduce the number of care home inspectors, including children’s homes, suggests that presently unacceptable standards may fall even further (2008:923)
(Carey, M (2008a) “Everything Must Go? The Privatisation of State Social Work” in British Journal of Social Work 2008, 38).
What we are now seeing is the consequences of the things Professor Carey predicted in 2008. Even more concerning in the light of this is the way the present government’s proposals for the NHS will elevate the role of private providers to an even greater extent, where they will be competing with state run services on cost. We know from experience that this will be a race to the bottom – with the regime of low pay low skill no training that was used by Castle Beck in Bristol, and is used throughout the Adult Social Care sector, being used to an even greater extent if this bill goes through.
We need to think about ways in which we can use the Panorama programme to alert people to what are in effect the consequences of privatisation.
(Leading SWAN members are among the signatories of a letter to the government calling for action on the issue of the abuse of people with learning disabilities. You can read the letter here and in accessible format here.)
News and updates
•The 6th SWAN National Conference 2011: This event has been organised in collaboration with In Defence of Youth Work and will have the theme of ‘Building Alliances, Defending Services’. The conference will take place on Friday 15th April and Saturday 16th April 2011 at the Avon Rooms, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham. For information about the conference themes, programme and speakers click here.
•SWAN will participate to the 2010 World Conference of the International Federation of Social Workers. Organising three fringe workshops on the themes mentioned above. Academics from different countries are invited to contribute to these sessions. Delegates who will be attending the conference are encouraged to participate.(Free admission) For more click here
•We are pleased to announce the circulation of the first SWAN newsletter entitled “Dispatches from the Frontline. Please click here to download.
•SWAN has put together a booklet on debates and issues raised by the Baby P events. The booklet runs to 116 pages and includes contributions from leading social work academics (including Peter Beresford, Sue White, Chris Jones), frontline workers, service users and trade union officials (from both Unison and Aspect). The contributions are all a response to a lead article by Iain Ferguson and Michael Lavalette. Click her to download the ordering form.
SWAN membership: how to join
SWAN Membership and Change of Circumstances Form
The cost of membership is £10 Full/ £5 Concessions per year. You can download the SWAN membership form at the bottom of this page. This form is in two sections, part A and part B. Part A is about your details and part B is about setting up a standing order.
Setting up payment of membership fees
Contact us here
and then choose ONE of the following 3 payment options:
a) Set up a standing order from your own bank account on-line to the SWAN bank account
Account number 65321151
Sort code 08 92 99
b) Fill in section B, print it off and send it directly to your own bank
c) Send a cheque payable to ‘Social Work Action Network (SWAN)’ to:
Social Work Action Network (SWAN)
c/o Iain Ferguson
School of Social Science
University of the West of Scotland
Paisley
PA1 2BE
Any membership queries should be sent to iain.ferguson6 [at] btinternet.com
London SWAN event 5th March 2011 Changes in Social Work our response
Social Work Action Network seminar: 5th March 2011
Changes in Social Work: our response
Speakers:
Roger Kline – ASPECT Union and Social Work Reform Board
Hilary Burgess – Social Policy and Social Work Subject Centre (SWAP) and Social Work Reform Board
Lee Jasper – Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC)
Date: Saturday 5th March 2011
Time: 10am to 2pm
Venue: Finsbury Library, 245 St John Street, London EC1B 4NV
(Nearest tube: Angel)
Cost: £5 Waged /£2 Unwaged
Joint West Midlands SWAN and Birmingham UNISON event this Tuesday! (15th March 2011)
SWAN West Midlands and Birmingham UNISON joint meeting:
Stop the Cuts – No to privatisation: a public meeting for social care workers and their allies
6pm, Tuesday 15th March, UNISON Branch Office, 19th floor McLaren Building, Dale End.
West Midlands Social Work Action Network and UNISON successfully opposed independent, private ‘social work practices’ in Sandwell and Staffordshire. We want to use what we learnder from this campaign to stop privatisation in Birmingham and are against the establishment of ‘social enterprises’.
Please attend this public meeting to find out more and join the campaign.
intro
SWAN developed from the Social Work Manifesto, written by Jones, Ferguson, Lavalette and Penketh in 2004. The Manifesto is the basis for our understanding of the present difficulties facing social work.
Information For registered users
Welcome to the SWAN website.
If you wish to submit an article/ contribution for consideration from the steering committee please email the administrator (ioakimides@gmail.com) and request an “author’s status”. The “author’s status” will give you access to the web-site’s text editor allowing you to edit, save and submit your articles/contributions/opinions/experiences for publication.
Hands Off Brum Services – Lobby 5th July & Meeting 20th July
Birmingham Council has announced plans to cut care services to save £33.2m by increasing eligibility thresholds. This will mean five thousand people in the city losing vital support. Cuts include the closure of six older people’s residential homes, increased charges for personal care, and the loss of skilled care workers as services become increasingly reliant on lower paid casual staff. A recent Panorama on the abuse of disabled residents at the Castlebeck unit showed the horrific results of providing social care on the cheap through privatised companies. Yet now the council is also proposing to privatise social work services using social enterprises. This will mean social work is turned into a business and workers forced to compete for contracts.
In addition many of those affected by cuts, disabled people and those with severe and terminal medical conditions, are also being forced to undergo‘work capability assessments’ and declared fit for work by the hated multinational Atos Origin which will profit from an outsourced £300 million government contract. This system has already led several claimants to commit suicide.
However, care service users and social and care workers are increasingly questioning why they should pay for a crisis caused not by them but by bankers. And so care staff and their unions in Birmingham are joining forces with disabled people to save our services and campaign against these discriminatory cuts.
In May a High Court judge ruled Birmingham council’s plans were unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act and these cutback plans were put on hold. This is a fantastic victory but will only be the start of the fight back necessary. To build on this a joint campaign has been launched involving West Midlands SWAN, Disabled People Against the Cuts, Birmingham City Unison, Birmingham Against the Cuts and the Right to Work campaign. We are planning a month of action in July against austerity measures in Birmingham to coincide with the first UK monitoring report of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Activities will include a lobby of the first full council meeting since the election at 5pm on 5th July, a public meeting on 20th July.
What you can do:
Tuesday 5th July from 5pm – LOBBY Birmingham Council – Lobby of the first full Birmingham council meeting since the election – assemble Victoria Square, Birmingham
Wednesday 20th July 630pm – 830pm – Public Meeting: Hands Off Our Care & Support Services – speakers from SWAN, Disabled People Against Cuts, Birmingham Unison, Birmingham Against the Cuts and Right to Work. Venue: Transport House – Unite (TGWU) Offices, 211 Broad Street, Birmingham B15
Pamphlet – Hands Off Our Care & Support Services campaign is producing a pamphlet about the cuts and what we can do to stop them – watch this space.
We invite you to join us in demanding better public services for service users, carers, support workers and social workers, not more cuts and marketization.
For more info email: handsoffbrumservices@gmail.com
Final programme for the 6th SWAN National Conference, with workshops
Social Work Action Network (SWAN) Conference 2011
Programme
Friday 15th April
11.30: Registration open
1.00 Introduction:
Professor Sue White – University of Birmingham (Critic of social work targets)
Michael Lavalette (SWAN National Convenor)
1.15 – 2.30: Plenary: Challenging Cameron’s Big Society and fighting welfare cuts
Speakers: Bob Holman (community campaigner), Bob Williams-Findlay (Disabled People Against Cuts), and Helen Davies (Barnet Alliance for Public Services/Unison activist)
2.35: Workshop streams
4.05: Break
4.30: Plenary: Social work and resistance across the globe
Speakers: Linda Smith (South Africa), Vassilis Ioakimides (Greece), and Miriyam Asfar (activist/researcher: Egypt and Arab revolutions)
5.45 – 6.45: Regional SWAN and IDYW network meetings
7.30 – late: Conference social (£5 for food & entertainment –see flyer below for details)
Saturday 16th April
10.00: SWAN AGM
11.00 Break
11.20: Plenary: led by young people (organized together with In Defence of Youth Work)
Speakers: Dami Benbow and Kalbir Shukra (activist/supporter of IDYW)
12.30: Lunch
1.30: Workshop streams
2.30: Break
2.50: Plenary with breakouts: Building Alliances to Defend Services
2.50 – 3.10 Introduction by John McArdle (Black Triangle Campaign), Karen Reissman (Unison/NHS anti-privatisation campaigner), and Education Activist Network speaker
3.15 – 4.10 Breakout sessions
4.15 – 4.40 Reconvene to feed back
4.45: Closing comments: SWAN Convenor
5.00 Conference ends
This programme with a full list of the workshop streams can be downloaded here.
Final list of speakers at SWAN conference 2011
Bob Holman
Bob Holman survived the London blitz then failed the eleven plus. However he made it to university. After being a child care officer, he was an academic for ten years. He left the chair in social policy at Bath University and, with his wife Annette, ran a project on a council estate. After a further 10 years, they moved to Easterhouse, Glasgow and, with residents, formed a locally-run project. He is the author of a book on Keir Hardie. A year ago, Annette nursed him through cancer. Now he is retired (ha ha) and helps look after two grandsons.
Bob Williams Findlay
Bob Williams-Findlay is a former Planning Officer with Birmingham Social Services and has trained social workers at the University of Birmingham as a Disability Equality and Human Rights Trainer. He shares many of the criticisms of social work practice vis-à-vis disabled people as expressed by Professor Mike Oliver.
His long association with the Disabled People’s Movement includes being Chair of the national civil rights organisation – British Council of Disabled People. Most recently he helped establish Disabled People Against Cuts as a campaigning group and has been an outspoken critic of both the Blairite “Social Care” agenda and Cameron’s “Big Society”.
Helen Davies
Helen Davies is a social worker for London Borough of Barnet, the Chair of the local Barnet UNISON branch as well as the local Trades Council. Helen is also a leading activist in the Barnet Alliance for Public Services campaign against the cuts. Barnet is a flagship Tory controlled local authority nicknamed “easyCouncil”, which is looking to privatise all of its services on top of the cuts to vital services.
Linda Smith
Linda Smith worked as a social worker for Child Welfare South Africa in the areas of community work and social action, child protection and child and family practice. Now a social work lecturer at the University of Witwatersand she has particular interests in social justice and human rights; radical social work; community work; anti colonial and critical discourse for social work; Freirian critical pedagogy and the roles of social movements in welfare and social change. Linda is currently completing her PhD on the subject of critical social work education and the imperative for social change. Linda is a trade unionist and a member of the South African Communist Party.
Vasilios Ioakimidis
Vasilios Ioakimidis teaches social work and social pedagogy at Liverpool Hope University and the University of Nicosia. His research interests include radical international social work. Along with Michael Lavalette he co-edited the book ‘Social Work in Extremis: Lessons for Social Work Internationally’ (Policy Press). Vasilios is a member of the SWAN National Steering Committee.
Miriyam Asfar
Miriyam Asfar is an activist and researcher. She will be speaking about the recent Egyptian and Arab revolutions.
Kalbir Shukra
Kalbir Shukra is an activist and supporter of IDYW. She has a history of youth and community work practice and teaching as well as community and union activity.
Dami Benbow
Dami Benbow is a student at Leeds University, is a former Deputy Young mayor and part of the Young Mayor network.
Karen Reissman
Karen Reissman is an elected member of Unison’s national health executive and campaigner against NHS privatisation. Karen was a mental health nurse for 25 years, before being sacked by Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust for ‘whistleblowing’ against the effects of cuts and privatisation. Karen is speaking in a personal capacity.
Jon McArdle
Jon McArdle is an activist with the Black Triangle Campaign in defence of disability rights in Scotland.
Disability activists fight back and win
Clearly this is great news and of significance for those who, like SWAN, are resisting cuts to social care services and welfare.
In this spirit, SWAN has been building links with disability activists. Bob Williams-Findlay from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), spoke at the recent SWAN national conference entitled ‘Building Alliances, Defending Services’. West Midlands SWAN has been invited to co-sponsor a meeting with DPAC and Right to Work in Birmingham during the week of action against Atos Origin and welfare cuts in May.
Atos Origin are the private sector organisation who have recently won a £300 million contract by the Coalition Government to carry out ‘work capability assessments’ on all of those claiming Incapacity Benefit; their job is to remove welfare from as many people as possible. The week of action starts on Monday 9th May with a picnic and party in Triton Square (near Warren Street tube), home of Atos’ head office, at 2pm. Please find further details of the plans for the week below:
http://www.dpac.uk.net/2011/04/national-week-of-action-against-atos-origin-monday-may-9-may-15/
SWAN encourages all service users, social workers, educators and students to join in with this week of action.