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It seems Community Care (http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Home/) are not only a soapbox for Unison but becoming a partner with the union – is that representative of social work?

Whatever happened to the campaign ‘Stand Up For Social Work’ promulgated by the magazine for social care workers.

See the article here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/20/117043/How-pension-reform-will-affect-Unison-social-care-members.htm

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Even its own survey of web readers indicates an almost 50% of local government staff will not leave the pension scheme if required to pay a higher contribution to the local authority scheme. Yet the magazine promulgates news of impending disaster.

What will be a disaster is if those disgruntled staff decide to leave the pension scheme – a disaster for them that is because they will not find anything better in the pensions market; indeed they will be shocked by what their contemporaries can get in a private pension scheme.

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If however they do leave – have a poor retirement fund and hence poor retirement; good luck.

However, back to Community Care magazine, the publication not for social workers, although Wilt admits he will continue to exploit their free news stories online to feed this blog.

The hard copy of the magazine is an anorexic version of its former self these days and Wilt is thinking of cancelling his subscription – is it really worth £22.50 per year?

The editorial is not wonderful, little in the way of news and certainly no one very much seems to be advertising with them these days. Perhaps they are getting union funding to carry on? Some of its reporters are tossers whilst some of its bloggers are a bit more in touch with the real world.

Some social workers and social care staff might not actually support Unison – have Community Care thought of that? How does the magazine support them, we wonder?

After BASW, Community Care magazine are about the worst example of poor representative views of social workers, worse even than Unison – all three of them have a common interest however – self preservation above all else.

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Role on the College of Social Work (the proper one) – they surely cannot be worse?

Wilt

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This is not good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-13892076

Clearly lessons have not been learned following the deaths of Baby Pater and Climbe, and a whole host of other child death case matters that precede them. It is unacceptable and putting it down to poor communication, albeit a convenient press headline, is simply misleading. Clearly the BBC article points to individual failings among professionals, and indeed by the mother. Where was her family, or indeed the father of the child? As the serious Case Review (SCR) indicates, this child death was avoidable. One worker whose task it was to support the murderers was ill equipped or qualified to perform her role and did not challenge obvious concerns as this would have conflicted with her focus and interfere in the relationship! Never mind the child, darling! Twat.

But then what were the managers doing?

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It is the age old story that professionals are either fearful of parents or are distracted by them – the child is not the centre of concern. What is wrong with these people? And if anyone mentions lack of resources they should have their bollocks cut off. This is not a resource issue, it is incompetence.

A Community Care article is here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/23/117063/childrens-services-partly-to-blame-over-toddlers-death.htm

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Wilt took a look at the Wolverhampton City website: http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/ which apart from being the ugliest website ever (similar to the city itself – almost as bad as Coventry) has a link to the Summary SCR.

Wilt once took a wrong turning and arrived in Wolverhampton via Bilston – what a fucking shithole of a place.

Wilt

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The GSCC never fail to amaze Wilt – they are such fucking idiots. When Wilt was a senior manager he infrequently had among his responsibilities to process police checks on staff, foster carers, child minders etc., etc – this was pre the Criminal Records Bureau set-up.

Wilt saw some criminal records which sent shivers down his back and made his hair stand on end, whereas for the most part people either had no criminal records or had one or possibly several minor convictions, perhaps from some years previously and possibly at a young age or as a juvenile.

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It is possibly not a well known fact but something like one in three people in the UK have a criminal offence of some kind recorded against them. In addition there is ‘soft intelligence’ the police can disclose and do disclose regarding investigations against suspects who have been investigated (and usually also arrested) with other agencies – not sadly in the case of Soham.

Mrs Calleja might rejoice however that her arrest for suspected harassment will be subject to such ‘soft intelligence’ reporting. Oooooops! Anyway the fact of the arrest is permanently recorded here, and elsewhere on the web.

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Wilt would make an assessment of the relevance of the conviction and advise for the most part that a person (whether staff member or carer) was safe to engage in their applicable role.  There were on occasions when Wilt felt, ‘there but for the grace of God’ when he reflected on his own youthful antics.

Now Dhillon-Powell, a Birmingham social worker, may not be a spring chicken but did Miriam deserve to be admonished for five years?

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See the Community Care article here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/23/117064/gscc-admonishes-social-worker-over-15-tk-maxx-offence.htm

Wilt observes:

• What possible concern does this have for the GSCC; the issue was dealt with by her employer, the police etc.;
• Is an attempted theft of £15 so serious;
• Who gives a fuck;
• What have the GSCC learned about proportionality;

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Fucking unbelievable – if this woman does not appeal she needs a brain cell count.

Wilt is, well just flabbergasted – what is wrong with these fools at the GSCC? Any Court, and we mean any Court, in the land that took such a draconian approach would be laughable. NO Court would even go anywhere near that kind of disposal.

It simply reminds Wilt why Regulator Watch needs to exist – because there are utter fucking twats at the GSCC who know nothing about social work/social care or indeed about social justice and proportionality – this woman’s greatest sin was probably shopping at T.K. Maxx at all – not that Wilt would be seen dead in its store.

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Wilt’s heart sinks, it really does – will these fools at the GSCC never, ever lean?

Wilt

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Yet again the GSCC have made a major fucking cock up and to add injury to insult (or vice versa) have imposed a inconceivably disproportionate sanction on a social worker registrant:  http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/13/117003/social-worker-guilty-of-misconduct-in-case-beset-by-delay.htm

It has taken the GSCC two years to conclude the case against Eric Rickerby who was initially suspended from the Register but then reinstated after an appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal who ordered his reinstatement: http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/Public/View.aspx?ID=1088

That was in July 2010 – nearly 12 months later they finally conclude the case. They blame the delay on administrative shortages but they accept there were unacceptable shortcomings and have learned lessons to ensure there are improved services to registrants – now where has Wilt heard that before?

Having effectively deprived the guy of work for two years, and a loss of an estimated £90,000 in salary they add insult to injury by admonishing him for 4 years.

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One can only assume that Rickerby will also appeal that judgement on the grounds that the decision was both perverse and utterly disproportionate.

Will these fuckers at the GSCC never learn? If Rickerby had not had to defend himself any reasonable lawyer would have torn the GSCC apart and shamed them into thinking that the guy had already served time. Effectively the fella will effectively serve 6 years – that is longer than some rapists serve!

What utter fucking bollocks.

Wilt

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And another success: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/10/116976/baby-p-social-worker-to-receive-damages-from-the-sun.htm

See also here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/09/116977/baby-p-verdict-a-victory-for-social-workers.htm

It was Deidre Sanders of The Sun who was in 2009 identified as a keynote speaker for the GSCC 2009 Conference which was received with disbelief and anger by both the social care press and social care workers. In fact a petition was signed by Wilt and several hundred others objecting to Sanders being given a voice by the GSCC.

See here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/15/112878/deidre-sanders-tells-gscc-conference-tide-has-turned.htm

And here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/30/112712/anti-deidre-sanders-petition-gets-over-350-signatures.htm

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The fact that The Sun is now to pay substantial damages to a social worker falsely accused by the newspaper of being implicated in the death of Baby Peter not only implicates The Sun but also the GSCC who were so insensitive to the views of the social care sector.

So GSCC, another nail in your coffin – you are a disgrace. Tabloid journalism is one thing, but tabloid regulation falls well short of what was intended and is unacceptable.

Shoesmith is only the beginning – like Arthurworry (Climbe) before her, there are a few other social workers lining up to challenge their treatment by the quadruplet congenial self-preservation society of Haringey, Ed Balls, Ofsted and the GSCC.

This is also a blow to the likes of Calleja who we know has tried to cash-in on the Baby P disaster by claiming she also was failed by social workers i.e. her convivial meeting with Mary ‘Contrary’ Wakefield which led to the Spectator article, see here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/3061606/after-baby-p-the-crisis-in-child-foster-care.thtml#comments

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More like a Jackanory story.

Wilt

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The first line manager (Team Manager) within children’s services is both the most critical of roles and the most stressful, even more stressful than frontline social work in Wilt’s opinion. It is hardly surprising therefore of a high turnover as set out in this article: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/06/07/116954/line-manager-turnover-adds-to-frontline-stress.htm

The thing is most people move into that role mostly because they technically proficient and not necessarily good managers – obviously as in most cases they will not have had prior management experience. It is also the case that professional competence is not of itself enough.

Whereas there is in political terms talk of the ‘squeezed middle’ if you really want to know what it is like to be squeezed try being a first line manager.

When Wilt ‘was a lad’ he had to have a minimum of 5 years qualified experience to become what was then a senior or principal social worker – even in those ancient days pre the children act 1989 Wilt found the transition hard. Unusually in those days of mostly ‘generic’ social work teams (i.e. social workers carried both children/family and adult cases) Wilt’s early ventures into the world of management caused him sleepless nights and a need for considerable reflection – was he ambitious? Yes is the simple answer, although he was in denial of this for a long time.

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However he was lucky as the local authority which appointed him in his first management role (at least in fieldwork) was very progressive, had an inspiring director and was regarded among the best in terms of managerial and professional practice – it had a very strong managerial culture and in those days if a manger said ‘jump’ you jumped. Not a bad environment to work in as a social worker as professional excellence was demanded and managers (compared to today) were relatively well experienced and frontline staff felt safe. That is in stark contrast today where it seems many staff have very inexperienced managers and rarely feel safe.

The key quality of any first line manager is the ability to enable his or her staff. It helps of course if you have staff capable of being enabled – never make that assumption as there poor social workers too, and I do not mean in terms of salary.

Anyway, Wilt went on to greater heights in management, skipping several intervening positions and pay grades to the near top of management – quite frankly he was never cut out for the top role and was never inclined to apply for any vacancies. Indeed he saw the light, left local government and built up his private business – and thank Gawd he did.

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Have a thought though for that lonely Team Manager having to know the ins and outs of every open case of the several people he/she manages. Believe me, it aint easy.

Wilt

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Oh dear, here we go again – the GSCC have fucked up again: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/05/31/116909/Banned-social-worker-can-rejoin-register-after-appeal.htm

It cannot be any fun working at the GSCC – however it is worse if you happen to be investigated by them, as the above article yet again illustrates. And to quote:

Tribunal judge Maureen Roberts said: “On the balance of probabilities we find that the applicant did make lewd and improper suggestions to young women in Argyle Street, Birkenhead, in the early hours of 10 April 2008.”

But she added: “In all the circumstances of this case we conclude that the sanction applied was too severe.

“The applicant is a mature man who has been working as a social worker since 1995 with no previous concerns about his professional work.”

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It goes on:

She also criticised the GSCC’s handling of the case as “less than fair”. Ten months after he was referred to the GSCC, the social worker was informed that no further action would be taken. Six months after that, the GSCC told him it was reopening the case.

Roberts concluded: “In view of the overall length of time that the applicant has had this matter hanging over him and the sanction of an interim suspension order and then removal dating back to January 2010, we are allowing the appeal.”

It never rains put pours on those nice stupid folk at the GSCC – fucking Dorks.

Wilt

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From the desk in North Wales:

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‘So there is a God after all’ must be words uttered by Sharon Shoesmith. This is a brilliant result:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13582644

And: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/8541521/Baby-P-Sharon-Shoesmith-in-line-for-1-million-tax-funded-payout-over-unfair-and-unlawful-treatment.html among other reports. Oh, one supposes one should also mention Community Care: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/05/27/116898/shoesmith-wins-appeal-and-likely-to-get-1m-compensation.htm

Shoesmith was the scapegoat of all scapegoats in modern times – she deserved not to have a whole pile of shit dumped on her by Haringey Council, those utter fucking idiots Ofsted and least of all by that evil bastard Balls. If this result were only to put Balls to shame it would be a triumph worth its weight in gold, but of course it puts a whole host of others in the firing line.

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Playing politics with the tragic death of a child is not only disgraceful but very unwise, as this cased has eventually gone on to illustrate. Shoesmith, for whatever failings, was made a social work martyr and she aint even a social worker! It just goes to show that anyone resembling a social worker is likely to get huge amounts of crap poured on them, just for the hell of it. Very convenient for the likes of Balls (he is such an evil twat) but not exactly enlightened, informative or likely to lead to better practice.

Ofsted – well they are of course just a joke, not unlike the GSCC and its sister organisations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The likes of Balls (and it now also seems Gove – who Wilt thought better of) and these quango are all in cahoots. ‘You watch my back and I will watch yours’ comes to mind.

Over the time that Regulator Watch has existed Wilt has had numerous emails from disgruntled registered social workers and social care workers who have, quite frankly, been harassed by the GSCC (especially) and its neighbours. Some have sought advice, others remarked on the piss poor quango and, for the most part, very grateful subscribers who have found Regulator Watch an absolute Godsend and a root to reality whilst under immense pressure. Only the other day did one correspondent say that they were released from their torture by the GSCC after months of irrelevant enquiries which it admitted were not really necessary – they apologised and said they had new procedures to avoid putting registrants to the test when it could be obvious there was no case to answer.

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That rang a bell with Wilt – a close friend of his (pursued by Calleja and Plaskitt) for many years had a visit from a senior GSCC officer to deliver a personal apology. This was sometime in 2006/7 when that GSCC officer said: ‘Please do not quote me but she [Calleja] is vexatious.’ He went on, and this is the key point, ‘We now have in place procedures where this cannot happen again.’ Mmmmmmm we think.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Plaskitt (former MP and utter twat) and Calleja of Leamington Spa have any further currency with the GSCC, Ofsted, the police, parliament, the Information Commissioner or local authorities – they are quite frankly tagged as ‘toxic.’ They are simply a danger to public wisdom, the taxpayers of the UK (with their endless complaints) and common sense.

It seems the GSCC are having trouble again in promulgating anything remotely ‘common sense’ or even the concept of justice to its officers. They carry on, very highly paid with magnificent conditions of service, with aplomb, and quite frankly do not give a shit. They are a total and utter waste of space – the sooner they are made defunct the better.

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Whereas there are dozens upon dozens of Care Standards Tribunal findings against the GSCC: http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/tribunals/care-standards/index.htm there are countless other not reported actions by the GSCC because they do not come to fruition – mostly because they should never have been commenced in the first place and hence, being held in private, never come to public attention. We know this because of our correspondents – Wilt would wish they publish (anonymously) their messages on Regulator Watch – but he is bound by a faith of confidentiality not to publish online some very desperate and sad stories of registrants.

Wilt will never disclose private correspondence, unless you are Plaskitt or Calleja – both have previous ‘form’ when it comes to breaching confidentiality, whether from ‘abusing’ Parliamentary privilege or just ignoring behaviour which one might regard as reasonable of a ‘normal’ person. Regrettably Calleja is far from normal.

And so Sharon, what now my dear? Not again we think a Director of Children’s services, even if you wanted it. Take the money you rightfully will deserve, make wise investments and just relax – you deserve it.

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We wish you well.

Wilt

I was somewhat under the impression that there was already a Chief Social Worker called David Behan – what is he doing these days if not promoting/overseeing the profession or advising Government/Parliament?

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Behan, readers may recall, was the former CEO of the CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection – the son/daughter of the National Care Standards Commission) who had the extremely unfortunate experience of overseeing the debacle relating to Elizabeth Calleja and James Plaskitt (ex) MP. Behan, to his credit, delivered the death nail of the aforementioned in his commissioning and eventual publication, under immense duress from Calleja/Plaskitt not to do so, of the now famous CSCI Internal Review Report – see: http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/11/csci-internal-review-report/

Calleja/Plaskitt threatened to take the matter to Judicial Review if Behan published the Internal Review Report which was highly critical of Calleja and (at least in first draft form) of James Plaskitt too (former MP for Warwick and Leamington Spa – where Calleja resides).

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The final version was cleaned-up somewhat although Wilt has a copy of that first draft, as does Calleja and Plaskitt – not happy reading for them in first draft or final published version.

We only however publish the final version on Regulator Watch to spare their blushes – for now J

He (Behan) on the eventual demise of the CSCI got promoted to a post of Chief Social Worker but was forever thereafter invisible in terms of anything he did – has anyone seen him in the last few years.

And now Munro http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/05/11/116771/munro-backs-creation-of-chief-social-worker.htm

and the Government appear to support this ‘new’ role: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/05/11/116785/government-backs-munro-plan-for-chief-social-worker-role.htm

What Wilt would like to know is, what happened to the previous role and will the supposed ‘new’ incumbent have any teeth – I think Behan had teeth, well he did speak without any impediment and was a rather reasonable bloke I am told; he did after all authorise lots of compensation £dosh to a few parties, but not Calleja – in our book that makes him very reasonable indeed.

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Anyway, if anyone finds Behan (we think with a CBE medal attached) wandering around Whitehall – tell him his job appears to up for grabs!

Oh, and we think Wilt should be appointed as Chief Social Worker in his place – nothing personal David, honest.

Wilt

In reality BASW have no say in the matter. Hilton Dawson (once the great hope for BASW) is a disgrace – he cannot even get photographed against a reasonable background in the photo of him in this article: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/05/06/116760/single-social-work-college-likely-to-be-agreed.htm

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The tide went out a long time ago for BASW, and this photo (see article) only confirms it.

It is only the College (the official) of Social Work (http://www.collegeofsocialwork.org/home/) that has any merit – BASW are just simply an afterthought these days. Hilton might think of perhaps moving on? We hear that there are vacancies for the assistant, to the assistant of the first assistant to the public toilet mandarin in his local area – oooops Hilton is not sufficiently qualified.

What a shit twat. He is a former MP, so what else to expect?

Wilt