Make Equality Real: Front 2 – Impact of Austerity Cuts to Social Work

Over the next 6 months we will cover the Make Equality Real campaign’s different themes, all relating to the impacts of austerity.

SWU and the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) launched the Make Equality Real campaign in May 2024 with the support of a coalition of nine national trade unions and campaign groups spearheaded by the GFTU.

Make Equality Real calls for the inclusion of socio-economic duty into the Equality Act 2010 and the end of austerity. Learn more and sign the petition today.

The What: What is the impact of austerity now, on social work?

I asked two social workers in my team, who said:

1. A decline in therapeutic support at earlier stages. We are only able to manage crises as opposed to being effective or preventative, the removal of valuable resources like sure start and children’s centres is harmful to families. Social work managers are only qualified for a couple of years and less able to support staff, we have poor quality supervision and no time to think. There is a lack of preventative support because of Thatcher rolling back the state, local authorities pay 3^rd sector to provide, because we have less staff and higher caseloads. There used to be dedicated monies to give families for food and electricity now forms and foodbanks. Too many families are destitute. People get stuck in hospital for months, 1 year or more, waiting for support to go home or an appropriate accommodation. Public safety is compromised, so is staff safety.
2. Social workers are used as gatekeepers to ration services, our time is consumed by financial and bureaucratic tasks instead of having time with people in communities. We are losing years of knowledge and experience as social workers are leave entirely. Some child protection teams’ longest serving staff are qualified barely 2 years, the workforce is being reduced by employers who are not filling vacancies and use posts as savings. Preventative work is provided by the 3^rd sector where funding is insecure. We face a lack of development opportunities. Low numbers of social workers in upper management because strategic goals conflict with social work values – social workers do not want to be a part of this. There is dominance of health professionals who do not understand social work or the law and force unsafe practices. It feels like working for a car dealership again. We are not valued. Governments introduce legislation not fit for purpose or practice.  Social work is not like this where I come from, people do not get as much support and there is more help from family members – this is expected.

The How: How did it get to this point?

Austerity is the cataclysmic collapse of the welfare state. Thatcher may have started it with the NHS & Community Care Act 1990, implemented 1993. 

However, successive parties built on her government’s ideals of the marketisation of care, neoliberalism and the economy of care, whilst scaling back state responsibilities. Blair and Browns PFI scandal continued the destruction of the UK’s NHS and Education institutions – the selling off of state assets whilst creating debt four times the size of the budget deficit used to justify austerity.

Social policy and legislation changes can be duplicitous. We are led to believe change is principled and pro rights, intent on increasing liberty, personalisation and citizenship but more often concerned with reducing funding for services.

The NHS & Community Care Act was the soft start to austerity in public services.

Consumer driven choice, competition models and motivation for profit on par with corporate business have led to health and social care joining profit driven industries. The introduction of a mixed economy of care, the purchaser provider split, private businesses and the 3rd sector competing for public service contracts they could never honour. Needs equal profits.

We even began to speak about people needing support as consumers, some of us still do, labelling people service users or clients. The nature of demands on social workers have become task orientated and performance led vs people and rights based. This causes despair for social workers who face internal conflict with ethics, values, denied time for creativity and are objectively compromised in terms of safety, the law and regulation of the profession. There is discontent in working environments, a high turnover and vacancies.

Consider the similarities of huge supermarkets arriving in numbers on the UK high streets in the 1990’s. People were convinced of greater freedom and choice to buy goods at better value, when the competition between providers only led to saturation, reduced quality and exploitation of suppliers and labour, and now a cost of living crisis.

Unqualified carers are the farmers of social care; they do not receive a living wage and are exploited for their labour. 

We face increasing pressures as social workers, as do migrant social care workers who work 60–80 hour weeks for less than minimum wage. 

We struggle to fill our cars with fuel every week to do a fraction of the volume of visits social carers do. 2023 availed an average wage increases of 6.1% for social workers but the cost of living means in real terms a salary of £41500 is worth 7.2% less than in 2016.

Local authorities (LAs) are spending two thirds of their budgets on adult and child social care, purchasing services from providers. 14 LAs in England have served s.114 notices since 2000, 6 LAs declaring bankruptcy since 2021 and more to follow it is abundantly clear fundamental changes are needed.

Let us hope the election has provided a new government that will prioritise people and public services over profits.