This press release from the GSCC is an utter disgrace. They first off presume they have a future (at all), second they believe they have something to contribute, third they assume any competence (they are under special measures) but fourth and worst of all they believe they have the moral foundation (“compass”) to judge others.

See the press release here: http://www.gscc.org.uk/News+and+events/Media+releases/Media_release_17-03-10.htm

We believe this is the equivalent of “whistling in the dark” (as in nervously walking down a dark alley feeling very nervous but trying to appear confident to ward off an attack). In reality the GSCC are fighting for their life and they are grasping at any opportunity which might deter any further attack on their status e.g. we are big girls and do not take us on.

The fact is “darlings”  your future is already written, and it aint as you hope or aspire to – you’re dead meat girlies and no amount of whistling  will improve your chances of winning confidence with anyone.

We see the Care Standards Tribunal continue to regard the GSCC as utter dorks, see here: http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/Public/View.aspx?ID=1071

Wilt is aware that other findings will yet further prove the fuck ups of this most fucked up organisation.

Twats!

Wilt

This a load of tosh, £48 Million is a complete waste as it will not even begin to address any key issues facing frontline or even back office social work – Labour simply rely on the term “frontline” to mask the FACT that whoever wins the election the local authority budget (wherever you live) is going to be utterly slashed – by up to 30%.

See Ed (the fuck head) Balls article here from Community Care: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/17/114067/frontline-social-work-to-be-transformed.htm

He obviously thinks that we are all idiots by thinking we will all jump up and down in delight and pay homage to the fuck head but who in fact cares shit about social care or children.

Extra money for Cafcass – more cash for another waste of space. “Oh it is failing” – let’s throw some money at it! It might help Balls sleep better at night but for certain it aint going to help one little bit anyone else.

Utter twat. He still reminds me of Damien (aka the devil) whenever I see his picture.

Wilt

Brick (http://wallofbrick.wordpress.com/) has a lovely posting here http://wallofbrick.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/you-really-need-to-read-this/

The source material id here: http://www.mentalnurse.org.uk/2010/03/slapheads-social-workers/#more-3070

I just love it.

Wilt

The Wilt is back – please line up in an orderly queue!

He has been away an will be again next week and various weeks over the summer – busy boy! And that does not include the Malta trip.

However, whilst Wilt has been away Mrs C has been keeping an eye on Regulator Watch and ensuring it has not felt lonely – she is very dedicated having visited 16 times in 4 days! That is an average of four times a day.

So far today it is only once that Mrs C has visited – what will it be by the end of the day?

Unfortunately whilst Wilt was away his dongle (no I said dongle – as in mobile broadband thing that plugs into his laptop) was not working and therefore he had no internet access. Hence no updates on Regulator Watch other than those authorised to upload.

However, dongle thing now fixed. What dork named a dongle, anyway?

So, there is lots of news to catch up on and in the hours and days to come we will be giving our take on the key issues.

We have however heard that Mrs C is complaining that some people (not Wilt) are calling into question her capacity and moral standing to act as a foster parent. Oh dear! What an awful assertion – but justified.

Wilt will add that Mrs C always complains, loves to complain about social workers, certain fostering agencies, numerous quango and independent consultants – so she can now get a taste of what it feels like to be complained of herself – and of course it will be here forever.

And of course Mrs C is famous (actually infamous) through her own media hungry desire for self promotion as a angelic victim – nun with a switchblade more like. So any internet search engine will find these pages.

Furthermore she has now exhausted every agency who she can complain to and her pet MP (the beach/dunes loving James Plaskitt) is rather busy preparing for an election he will inevitably lose. And then what Mrs C do? The incoming MP has already been briefed and Mr Cameron (the likely next Prime Minister) is well aware of Mrs C, of old.

She has no idea what is waiting in the wings of Regulator Watch – perhaps lurking in that Happen Files section or perhaps not? However, no lost or stolen files – just simple paperwork obtained quite legally and are in the public domain (or otherwise distributed by Mrs C).

Happy times ahead, at least for some of us!

Wilt

OK it is the Telegraph (not exactly social care friendly) and as yet there is no SCR completed, but the reporting of this further death of a child from alleged neglect is not going to help the retention of social workers.

See the report here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7430464/Parents-plead-guilty-to-neglecting-girl-found-hanged-in-her-bedroom.html

Social care is going to need some very serious attention after the election.

Wilt (with head in hands)

Wilt wondered what was going to happen with this case – Rosalind Shaw. It is listed here for a Care Standards Tribunal appeal date to be fixed.

http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/Public/View.aspx?ID=1072

Rosalind Shaw’s case  was reported in Community Care, here:

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/112793/hospital-social-worker-struck-off-for-repeated-failings.htm

The GSCC press notice is here:

http://www.gscc.org.uk/News+and+events/Media+releases/Rosalind+Shaw+conduct+hearing.htm

Wilt commented at the time:

“Well, let us take Rosalind Shaw a 65 year old Hospital Social Worker. There is no suggestion that she was a serial failing social worker over many years. She never robbed anyone or shagged her clients. At the end of a career most of us are ready to be shelved and our performance and energy is less than it should be – in fact it must be rare to find social workers still active at 65 years.” – see: http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/10/dorks-with-bells-on/

There was nothing proportionate in removing the woman from the Register and it seems Ms Shaw agrees.

What is ironic is that the GSCC attempted to have the appeal “struck out” but the Care Standards Tribunal have refused. The GSCC had asked for more time to submit evidence for the “strike out” (which has not been forthcoming for months) and yet when Shaw (who had not attended the GSCC hearing) had previously asked the GSCC for a postponement, they refused.

What goes around comes around!

These case matters are always difficult to predict, but I remain amazed the woman was removed from the register – I think the Tribunal might find it a bit excessive. Again the issue is competence (and probably difficult working conditions) and not conduct. If there was ever a misuse and abuse of the term “conduct” the GSCC hold the gold medal as they are equally guilty of abusing process and power.

Good luck Rosalind.

This is going to be an interesting case. It had many a headline during the prolonged GSCC hearing and Hofstetter had a bit of a disagreement with Community Care on their reporting of the case.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/114043/Children39s-social-worker-to-appeal-against-being-struck.htm

A supporter of Hofstetter was once a regular correspondent on these pages and there is certainly another side to the story. Regrettably Wilt will be away for the appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal, otherwise he would have observed.

Keep calm Jacinter – however justified you might be how the GSCC deal with things.

Wilt

An Irish perspective……….

Wilt has had a helpful suggestion from a colleague via email:

Hi – I have been enjoying your site for some time now and fully agree with your take on the role of the great and the good who regulate our working lives and if we step out of the narrow line, our personal lives which can be drawn into the mix for the worthies to pontificate about.

Somehow you have managed not to include the latest regional regulator of social care, the above which came into being in 2001 but didn’t seem to do much with anyone until 2005.  Based closely on the model of the GSCC, they pretty well follow the same well worn path, extracting vast total sums from the NI social care workforce so that they can park their well upholstered asses in their plush city centre offices in Belfast and regale us with all that they are allegedly doing to support us and our standards of practice. They can be found at www.niscc.info.

Their latest newsletter on the site makes a big fuss of telling us how they are making the codes of practice work for us by providing all registrants with a bookmark with a printed summary of the codes on it. That should make bedtime reading lead to restful sleep – not.  Page 6 has a wonderful spread about how the NISCC has performed against its business objectives with a heartwarming Objective 2 display listing the number of the hapless among us who have fallen into their clutches and survived or not as the case may be. Nowhere in the article about making the codes work for us or in the objectives spread is there any mention of how registrants can use the codes to deal with poor and ineffective managers who fail to follow the employer code of practice nor indeed any sign that the NISCC is interested in doing so. Plus ca change plus c’est la meme. C’est la vie. How come it is always french phrases that seem to be most applicable to our weird and wonderful regulators?

Anyway I started out just to ask you to include the NI worthies in your site and then got some angst off my chest while I had the chance. You know how it is.

And of course the correspondent is right – the NISCC (Northern Ireland Social Care Council) http://www.niscc.info/ is not listed as a category but is now.

It seems according to their history of hearings they have been busy boys and girls, see here: http://niscc.info/decisions_from_hearings-104.aspx

And so, let’s hear more views about them, or the Scottish or Welsh versions as well as our friends at the GSCC.

We like the idea of the NISCC “bookmark” listing the codes – I must get a copy. No doubt it was designed by the prince of horror books, Stephen King (http://www.stephenking.co.uk/home) – indeed nice bedtime reading.

You see there are those that do, and those that teach (or regulate, or inspect). It’s awfully easy to sit back and form an opinion on best practice, but less easy to put it into action and a nice earner to criticise as a bureaucrat that which one could not even begin to understand, let alone judge.

Anyway, our sincere gratitude to our correspondent for bringing this matter to our attention, and welcome to Regulator Watch – have fun. We hope you contribute to the Blog – your anonymity is assured as are your comments whether we agree with them or not.

Wilt

Balls fucks up again!  See the article here: http://order-order.com/2010/03/11/making-the-most-of-a-rare-treat/

Mind you he is a bit of a pea brain but regrettably (for him) he has a mouth larger than his brain dimensions. Fucking idiot.

Wilt

Several little piggy’s went, not to market, but Court. And at least one other might yet do so. We are of course talking about MPs.

As yet there is no response about Wilt’s MP or that total twat Plaskitt MP who have complaints lodged against them.

Those in Court (attempted) suggested that they were beyond the law, are above the law and have privilege courtesy of Parliament. Utter twats.

Guido reports here:  http://order-order.com/2010/03/11/troughers-plead-not-guilty/

The BBC here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8561359.stm

The Telegraph here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/7421439/MPs-expenses-three-Labour-MPs-deny-fraud-charges.html

The Times here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7058379.ece

We predict several little pigs might be going to prison

Wilt