| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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O'Brien Inquiry briefingsSocial Work Update - 8 December 2003See also: Preliminary Report on the O'Brien Inquiry O'Brien Report | Remuneration & retention | Reorganisation | Ballot | Conditions and Professional issues O'Brien ReportThis is only a brief rundown, please see the nine-page interim report issued by the Branch at www.unison-edinburgh.org.uk/socialwork/obrien.html. UNISON continues to accompany and represent those involved in the staffing inquiry. It remains the UNISON position that all staff will be defended with all possible resources. UNISON has cautioned strongly against the report being used as a benchmark for reorganising child protection. It refers to the unfairness in aspects of the report and shortcomings in how it was managed, its understanding, its accuracy, its conclusions and its interpretation of evidence. Our report also catalogues the resource issues inherent in some of the events covered by the inquiry. Our own survey backs up this position and we will continue to strongly argue (and evidence) that resources are the key issue. UNISON plans a seminar on the Inquiry and related issues in the New Year and will make further comment on the report as necessary. Remuneration and RetentionOne of the hurdles at a Scottish level in seeking a definition of the social worker post and a regrading is that, necessarily, the net is cast wide to cover all areas of social work where we have members. The response in many authorities has been to offer enhancements in areas where they have a recruitment crisis. Edinburgh has been slow to respond but has done so eventually. It has focussed wider than the areas in which it has a recruitment crisis but it still leaves a large number of anomalies. Given the crises faced by our members, particularly in children & families teams, it would have been counter-productive (if not impossible) to obstruct the payments with no guarantee that anything more could have been achieved in the short term. In the meantime, we would have left staff at the sharp end after the inquiry with no measures to try to improve the recruitment and retention crisis. However, UNISON will address the issue of remuneration for all staff on the back of this initiative, both at a local and national level. The first step is to address the position of SPs, etc, along with equal pay issues for other relevant staff. A clear priority is the position of resource teams and residential staff. ReorganisationUNISON is not in principle opposed to reorganisation of services. However,the current context is not the best time to reorganise. We have set down the following principles in our meetings with the Chief Executive, senior management and senior politicians:- 1. Resources are the key issue. This must be addressed first and resources must not be wasted on reorganisational issues. Huge investment in staffing, IT systems and service support are needed now. 2. There must be clear statement of support from the Council that, as we stand, we cannot allocate all the child protection (and other) work and therefore cannot fully comply with inquiry recommendations. This is not organisational, it is a resource issue. 3. Much more time is needed for consultation. UNISON does not accept a number of the 'pros and cons' arguments for the four options presented and will enlarge on this in more detail later. 4. Decisions must be evidence based and not a knee-jerk reaction. We are aware of the drive after the Climbie inquiry in England for 'Childrens Services' structures but the evidence of their shortcomings in practice must be taken into account. Evidence from other inquiries for the need for an integrated social work service must also be taken into account. As such at this stage we do not see merit in the preferred option of splitting the Social Work Department across two departments. 5. Many of the changes the Council wants to see are already happening and would be better addressed by developing the co-working and joint initiatives already developing between departments and agencies. 6. Any new structure must have a clear professional leadership and social work values, principles and professionalism must be protected and enhanced. 7. The Council will need the co-operation of staff to effect any change. Without that co-operation the current crisis will be made even worse. A period of stability is needed with a real increase in resources before any structural changes are considered. 8. Clear social work management leadership is needed now to represent the interests of social work, even if that is to be an appointment(s) on an interim basis. UNISON will be actively consulting members via local meetings and departmental meetings over the coming weeks. Please try to make sure you attend these. The last departmental meeting was relatively poorly attended given the enormity of the issues facing us. We need a clear view from the membership as a whole to be able to represent you properly. BallotThe Departmental Meeting called for a ballot of staff to demonstrate the anger felt by members about a range of issues, not just since O'Brien. A ballot needs to define a clear form of action and a clear aim as to what we want to achieve. Details of this are being actively worked on and you will here more very soon. Conditions/Professional issuesBecause UNISON is made up of people actually doing the social work job, it is keenly aware of the feelings of members at this time as they reel from what feels like one slap in the face to another. That is why our priority has been to try to ensure that council management and politicians get a real flavour of the reality of the job at the coal-face. Only by doing that can we ensure that nobody at the top can say 'we didn't know'. This has meant a two-prong approach of addressing conditions and professional issues. These must go hand in hand in social work. That is why we have enlisted the help of our national bargaining structure, legal resources and professional and research resources. This work is not always evident to members but backs up all of our assessments and submissions to the employer and to the Scottish Executive.
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