I'm delighted to have my first opportunity to introduce myself to you since I became Chief Executive of the GSCC on 31 March. As a social worker by background, I still feel very much part of the profession and am very keen to actively engage with you as much as possible to help inform our work.
Firstly, I thought you might be interested to know a little about my background and how it fits with my role at the GSCC. I have an MA in social work and have spent over 10 years as a frontline social worker in challenging environments, including two years at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and eight years at Sheffield City Council. I then moved into the management of social work services, including three years as Assistant Director of Children and Families and Children and Adults' services at Nottinghamshire County Council and eight years as Executive Director of Social Services at Sheffield City Council. I was Chief Executive of Hackney Borough Council from 2005 to 2007 and since then I have undertaken a range of senior management and consultancy roles including interim Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Haringey.
Looking back on my career, it is apparent that I often taken on leadership roles at organisations following difficult big events and where there was a need to improve the organisation both in terms of how they performed and how they were regarded.
I am really excited about the opportunities that my role at the GSCC gives me to use my experience of the pressures and challenges that social workers face to help shape a system that delivers consistently high standards across the profession. Throughout my career I have found that regulation and inspection have helped to improve public services and the standing of professions. I am sure it will do the same for social work services and the standing of the profession. One of our priorities as an organisation will be strengthening our effectiveness in social work education regulation, because attracting the right people to the profession and supporting their professional development is key to raising standards.
Another priority will be helping and challenging employers to manage and support social workers. This is part of our commitment to effective engagement with employers and higher educational institutions. We have still got more to do to modernise and e-enable our registration process to engage with our registrants more effectively. We will also be developing our conduct role into a fitness to practice model. These measures will help us in our role of raising standards and increasing the regard with which the social work profession is held in.
I have joined at a really significant time of renewal across the social work sector, which will enable the GSCC to deliver on its ambitions of being a top class regulator that ensures that social workers receive the right training and support for what is one of the most challenging careers, and that all those using your services feel safe and confident in the quality of their support.
I look forward to working with you all and hope to meet many of you over the coming months.
