Youth Work in crisis

Youth Work in crisis

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
SWAN Marches for the alternative

SWAN Marches for the alternative

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
Sulaiman Must Stay!

Sulaiman Must Stay!

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
Lifting the Lid on Disabled People Against Cuts

Lifting the Lid on Disabled People Against Cuts

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
Private Social Work Practices

Private Social Work Practices

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
Gaza: Resilience, resistance, rights, freedoms and humanitarian help

Gaza: Resilience, resistance, rights, freedoms and humanitarian help

From Newsletter #2 Autumn 2010 Lorty Phillips, a youth worker from London, gives an eyewitness account of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla taking aid to Gaza in May this yearI was motivated to join campaigns to alleviate the Gaza siege after the bombing of the strip in winter 2008-09.  After finding out more about the history and facts I resolved to get more involved with campaigning.  Anyone who finds out about the atrocities there finds a way to respond – direct action involving aid convoys to Gaza is my way! I have travelled to Gaza once before with the Viva Palestina land convoy and set sail with the seaborne Freedom Flotilla that was violently intercepted in international waters on route to Gaza on 31st May 2010.   Read More
From Cradle to Grave – the cuts affect us all

From Cradle to Grave – the cuts affect us all

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
Challenging The Not So ‘Comprehensive Spending Review’

Challenging The Not So ‘Comprehensive Spending Review’

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
In Defence of Youth Work

In Defence of Youth Work

From Newsletter #1 Spring 2010 Tony Taylor explains why practitioners have set up a campaign to put young person-centred practice back at the heart of youth work. Read More
Building a Social Work of Resistance: Cuts, Crisis and Contradictions

Building a Social Work of Resistance: Cuts, Crisis and Contradictions

From Newsletter #1 Spring 2010 Barrie Levine describes SWAN’s involvement in a campaign against cuts in Glasgow, and explains how this is shaping the focus of SWAN’s annual conference in September 2010. Along with the rest of local government across the country, Glasgow is facing massive cuts over the next few months.  Shamefully, the City Council have decided to shut 12 community centres along with a swimming pool and a library; cuts will be made in home care services and support to disabled people; welfare rights jobs will be lost and community workers cut by 50%; grants to voluntary and community organisations will also be slashed; it is estimated that over 600 jobs in the city will be lost.  These cuts in vital services will rip the heart out of already struggling communities and there is more to come over the next few years.   Read More

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We want to develop a network of service users, practicitioners, academics and students to support radical and progressive social work. We need a social work that is ready to challenge oppressive practice, that means working collectively across the country and internationally to advance Social Work.