Chair's Welcome

The protection of people using social care services is of paramount importance to the GSCC and we are committed to ensuring that social workers are held to account for any misdemeanours.

The Council was therefore extremely concerned earlier in the year when it learned that some of the referrals to the conduct service were not being dealt with quickly enough. The Council has suspended the Chief Executive, Mike Wardle, while it looks into how the situation arose.

We have now implemented measures to ensure that all referrals are progressing through our conduct procedures appropriately. In some cases this means accelerating the pace at which cases are dealt with to ensure adequate public protection, but this is always balanced against a commitment to the registrant’s right to a fair hearing.

We are also working to put the conduct function onto a sustainable footing to deal with the increasing level of referrals we now receive. To support this work, we have invited the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence to undertake a review of our conduct work, and look forward to their report later this month.

I am also very grateful to Paul Philip, Deputy Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, who has been acting as the GSCC’s Chief Executive since July. His expertise has been enormously valuable.

Unfortunately Paul is only able to remain at the GSCC until the end of this month but I am delighted to announce that Paul Snell, former Chief Inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection will take over as acting Chief Executive from 1 October.

We expect the next few months to be a critical time in the GSCC’s evolution, as the Government begins to deliver wide-ranging reforms to the social work profession, including to the architecture of the national social care bodies. I believe that the GSCC should emerge from this with the remit and powers to provide robust regulation of social work practice and the sector needs a strong professional body for us to work alongside, responsible for sharing best practice and representing the sector. We expect the details of these reforms to be announced in the autumn, and look forward to discussing these in more detail at our annual conference on 14 October and in future editions.

It is at this time of year that a fresh crop of students embark on their journey to become social workers. In this edition we look at some of the issues affecting students and hear from a student about her experiences of the training.

Rosie Varley OBE
GSCC Chair

Feature
Social work: a profession to be proud of - GSCC’s annual conference 2009 The GSCC’s annual conference 2009, Social work: a profession to be proud of, is fast approaching. This year the conference will look at the standards and values of social work, explore what it means to be a part of the social work profession, and discuss how the status of social work can be improved. Win a free place at the GSCC's annual conference 2009! Offer open to all registered social workers and social work students.         Strengthening provision of practice learning Practice learning is an integral part of social work training, giving students the opportunity to start to put their knowledge into practice. In some areas the supply of quality placements is not keeping pace with student intakes and there are particular shortfalls in the provision of statutory placements. This concerns us because of the impact both on the quality of training and on employment prospects of graduates, as some employers will only consider graduates who have had a local authority placement.     Case study: Social work student Lisa Cassius I am a Social Work student at London Metropolitan University entering my final year of the Social Work degree.     Registration for social work students Registration with the GSCC shows commitment to upholding professional standards from the very beginning of your career in social work.     GSCC poll reveals employers are not responding to social worker concerns Responses to a GSCC poll* indicate that employers are failing to take action when social workers report barriers to their work.     Case study: Post-Registration Training and Learning (PRTL) – David Glover-Wright David Glover-Wright is a registered social worker working as a Team Manager in the Family Advice and Support Team in the Children and Young People’s Service in Milton Keynes. He also works as a Mental Health practitioner. He completed 50 days’ PRTL before renewing his registration in early 2008.
News
	New GSCC Council members The GSCC welcomes five new Council members to the organisation, some of whom started on 1st September.
	Influential reports on social work The second interim report from the Social Work Task Force, and the Children and Families Select Committee’s report on its inquiry into Training of Children and Families Social Workers were both published at the end of July.
	GSCC’s plans and priorities 2009-12 We have recently published our three year Corporate Plan 2009-10 to 2011-12 and annual Business Plan 2009-10.
	SCIE helps students through the information blizzard SCIE recognises that the people studying social work today will help to shape the future of social care tomorrow.
	Keeping your details up to date Congratulations if you have, or are about to, successfully complete your social work degree this summer.