[Closed] Any social workers in? Tory privatisation?

Anyone have a professional opinion?

It will be an unmitigated disaster....

It has and is already happening,......see Northward/ Sunderland looking at independent delivery trusts.....social care is currently a unmitigated disaster and will only get worse......

In 1 year we'll see a head of a private children services company at No. 10, getting loads of great press and possible a Gong. 2-3 later they'll be arrested as head of a paedophile rings and become a national disgrace. The Tories will blame it all on Corbyn and the press will ignore it as the kids were from poor families, so no one really GAS anyway.

Not a Social Worker but been working in Social Care for the past 15 years, including in childrens services.

Of course my gut instinct is that privitation of these services is bad, but then I remind myself just how appallingly inefficient and weak existing provision is. Social Work has not moved on for decades, appalling processes, weak management, huge inefficiency and a pretty poor service for clients. In most cases SW intervention in entirely reactive and not in any planned towards outcomes. I accept this is a sweeping statement and there will be excellent practice in areas but Social Work as an industry needs drastic reform, and I have no confidence in existing structures to deliver this.

Can private sector improve things? Potentially yes, but it will come down to the quality of the contract that is put in place.

moaning minnies, the lot of you !

I'm sure it'll be fine - you see, the private sector will be free to plough in enormous amounts of new funding due to efficiency savings made simply due to competition and soon you won't be able to move for social workers; they'll be everywhere

Look how well the probation service privatisation has turned out.

Social Work as an industry

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Potentially yes, but it will come down to the quality of the contract that is put in place.

And, of course, the public sector has such a good track record in putting together decent contracts...

Rabid Propoganda.

That website is quite a good laugh, the founder was on Newsnight a while back so I read it from time to time. It's so partisan it really is a laugh a minute

are there not various charities running care homes, social services, like barnados, the childrens society, and more, and who employs all those social workers who work for agencies and then get paid for by the local councils, all private companies, as for privatisation a lot of schools are grant maintained academies, and most public services provided by the councils are privately run, along with all bus and train companies that where once all state controlled.

Jamba, try commenting on the actual story too eh?
Not a social worker (health, me) but frequently involved on a professional level with use of children's acts and child protection, case conferences, fostering etc etc.
Professionally speaking I think this idea is terrible. Any 'red tape' cut leaves the door open for conflicts of interest, poor quality checks and balances and even greater level of resource-led decision making about the most vulnerable children than we already have from a conservative government who knows damn well that reductions on local authority funding and third sector/sure start funding has made a bad situation worse already. So far the contracting out of child health and probation services has been remarkably unsuccessful, why should introducing profit into this sector be any different? Poor value for money to the taxpayer and no 'right to choose' not to have a crap g4s type 'service' (like you at least theoretically have with academies or non-emergency health) for the users of these services or those that the services are forced upon (section 47 etc... or whatever section 47 will be called when the Conservative party have finished with it!)
You don't need to read the canary to work that lot out.

social work is the most ridiculously undervalued profession. Its so important. Society should hold it in the same regard as doctors.

Just asked my good lady wife if she'd heard this and she said "That old chestnut? Been talked about for years"