Wilt predicted precisely this 12 months ago: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/07/26/114986/sector-leaders-shocked-and-surprised-by-abolition-of-gscc.htm

According to Community Care sector leaders are shocked – well they should have been reading Regulator Watch. So, no surprise to Wilt and he will not be on his own in feeling pleased. The GSCC, with its stupid logo, has been a nightmare from day one. No doubt staff will be leaving to find new, proper, jobs with far less perks and salary – good.

The GSCC was after all one of the primary reasons for Regulator Watch being set up – to publicise those aspects of their work which they preferred not to have published.  You know like the major cock ups they frequently made and continue to make. What will Regulator Watch do without them and after the demise of Plaskitt (ex) MP and his demonic constituent?

Of course there is no word about the sister agencies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – and the functions of the GSCC will be transferred and subsumed by the Health Professions Council. Let’s see how well they do. For sure they cannot do any worse.

I like the title of the Government Report found here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_117832.pdf

“Liberating the NHS” has a certain, very satisfying ring to it! The title of Chapter 5 will be particularly poignant to some people in Oxfordshire and Salop.

Pages 21 – 23 deal with the proposed abolition of the GSCC and transfer of its functions. Interestingly, there is a hint that social work students will not be required to register and, unlike at present, the new registration will require no government subsidy i.e. total self funding.

Legislation will be introduced in November 2010 to make all the various changes and implementing the transfer of functions by the GSCC will be effective from April 2012 – these are indicative as distinct from absolute. If all goes to plan, by the end of March 2012 the GSCC will no longer exist – the end of an era error!

So who next? The ISA is already under notice and has delayed starting registration – they are as good as toast and Wilt predicts they will be gone before the end of the year.

Ofsted, Cafcass and Scie? The latter, to my surprise is not a public body although one suspects it gets some funding – it is widely predicted it will not survive. Wilt predicts Ofsted will get broken up and demolished and Cafcass will simply disappear.

The General Teaching Council is already toast. You never know, it might yet come about that regulation of social care might just go the same way. If not, expect to pay more for your registration or start calling yourself something other the protected title of “social worker.”

When the term ‘bonfire of the quangos’ was termed – they really meant it!

Good.

Wilt

Now we all know that Wilt is something of a simple minded chap – at his age keeping things simple is necessary. The previous Gordon Brown led Government complicated (and generally fucked up) almost everything. The only uncomplicated thing Brown can be thanked for, to wilt’s mind, is the “flat rate” VAT scheme – it’s too complicated to explain! However Wilt’s bookkeeper and accountant sort all that out.

You see, if Wilt’s services were no longer required, or if he were short of work (which he aint), he would just move on to other new work. No severance pay (except for breach of contract) and no pension either – not until it matures after years of contributions by the said Wilt, and no one else. The only exception is his current pension (taken in a lump sum – thank you) and his pending local government pension to kick in soon – and very good it is too. He was very lucky that the LA pension is so generous, and “locked” until he shortly falls off his desk chair and hangs up his Court/business suit.

To Wilt, simple minded as he is, he made good provision for the future, and indeed for the future of his offspring, friends and family – together with Mrs Wilt probably a combined portfolio in excess of £Xm. Not a lot we admit, but enough for the prudent and well in excess of that which most can hope to bestow upon their journey to their maker (or the devil).

However, what about our current civil servants and local government officers pensions and severance? Pensions will without doubt require them to contribute more, a considerable amount more, and their severance pay will be reduced, Wilt is in no doubt, the up to “6 years” redundancy payments will not now happen further – what fucking idiot ever agreed that? Probably Gordon Brown advised by Ed “Ferkin” Balls, the smarmy bastard.

The Telegraph has about the best article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7871570/Ministers-to-slash-pay-offs-for-civil-servants.html

And others include: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10504840.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/05/government-war-unions-strike-redundancy

What rather confuses Wilt is the threat of strike action – “OK comrades we will go on strike cos we are to be sacked………And sacked without severance pay of six years” The “comrade” union official on a £250,000 salary thinks and then adds “Comrades you deserve better, you have served (sic) your country and the public well – what reward are you given? A few weeks’ severance pay and a p45 with the option to actually work (I mean do a real days work) for a living in the private sector, no expenses, no huge paid holiday and sick leave entitlements.”

The man dressed in a very expensive suit continues with a lump in his throat: “Comrades, I need you, my children in public school need you, my wife (who shags many of my colleagues) needs you (although I hope not all of you 600,000) and I have a standard of living to expect from your union contributions – how else am I expected to live? I would have to go out to work, for Gawd sake – is that reasonable?

A lone, very shaky voice peeps up – “ahem, so I go on strike, lose my job anyway and I have less money than I would have had if I had not gone on strike, and yet you still get my contribution to your trade union that pays you 70 times more than me to achieve what exactly?”

The “comrade” replies – “It’s your duty to serve your comrades and the union.”

Union member: “Can I get a rebate on my union contributions?”

Wilt kind of thinks most civil servants and local government officers realised, albeit too late and regretfully, that at some point they were to join the real world – the real world beyond state benefits and state salaries.

You see there is not a lot of difference between a state benefit and a state salary – both waste space and both drain money from those who actually do a day’s work!

Wilt

ps: There are more recent articles since the above was drafted. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10519726.stm

And: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7874285/Civil-servants-redundancy-pay-to-be-capped-as-soon-as-possible.html

The gloves are off – a big scrap in Whitehall is pending.

Next: the quango, local authorities and, possibly, MPs!

Perhaps the nice civil servants can develop an Iphone application for calculating the difference between what they could have expected to get and what they will get in redundancy payouts. See http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2010/07/iphone/

You see, Gove has not forgotten us – not just yet anyway: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/06/03/114637/gove-promises-support-for-taskforce-recommendations.htm

I aint too sure however that Community Care can be so assertive as they are in this advice: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/06/03/114638/q-and-a-what-does-the-national-college-mean-for-social-workers.htm that the Social Work College could not become the Regulator to replace the GSCC (http://www.gscc.org.uk/Home/).

The article was written before the abolition of the General Teaching Council for England (http://www.gtce.org.uk/ ) by Mr Gove and as set out by the GTCE in their press release: http://www.gtce.org.uk/media_parliament/news_comment/gtcabolition0610/

The Regulation and Registration function of the GTCE will be assumed by some other body, so the General Social Care Council is not yet in the clear. If the teaching council can be abolished, so can the social work equivalent.

It is not true that all professions have a separate “college” or membership group from the regulatory and disciplinary functions. What exactly is the conflict in one single organisation promoting and supporting professionals whilst also investigating serious complaints? In my mind the two fit together snugly.

The options are however wide open – albeit to be fair the GSCC of late (under new leadership) appears to be getting its act together a bit more. However the trail of absolute disasters it has left behind through utter incompetence (and having been placed under special measures) has left few if any believing that the organisation is anything other an embarrassment.

My prediction – they will go too and their function of Registration will go somewhere else. There are too many of these Regulators and there is both an economy of scale and similar role and function argument in favour of mergers.

Time will tell……………

Wilt

ps: The same arguments and observations go for the SSSC, CCW and NISCC – however they are outside of the English jurisdiction and will determine their own futures.

Quangoland is today looking over its shoulder to see if Michael Gove or one of his colleagues is approaching them with an axe. See BBC article here:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10221877.stm

Blooming brilliant – the General Teaching Council for England is as good as gone, although the GTCE seem to want to fight it. Fucking Dorks.

Who next, we wonder? The General Social Care Council must be on the hit list although of course that comes under the Department of Health. Here are a list of ministers: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/MinistersandDepartmentLeaders/Ministers/index.htm

Paul Burstow looks like the kind of man that could have an axe or three tucked up his sleeve. And then of course there are those nice people at Ofsted and indeed that utter mess Cafcass. Ofsted will not disappear but they certainly will be cut back in a way the term “cuts” has never before been used. After all with “people power” and parents running schools, who needs Ofsted inspectors.

Cafcass on the other hand would never be missed, by anyone – least of all children’s guardians and the Courts. Guardians are not needed in every case – indeed in some cases Guardians are simply an obstacle. Actually, some Guardians (like some social workers) are utter fucking Dorks and would not know one end of a child from the other – not unlike some Ofsted inspectors.

Get rid of Cafcass and a huge amount of dosh could be saved – allocate a budget to the Courts and they can determine if a Guardian is needed above and beyond a child’s solicitor. In fact, one could spot purchase the work of a Guardian in the same way as “expert” reports are purchased to address a particular set of questions. That is far more economical and will sort out the wheat from the chaff. They will live or die (professionally) on the basis of competence and not simply because the law says a Guardian must always be appointed or because have to have an overview of the complete case.

Talking of chaff, there are several more quango Wilt would add to the list, but Gove has made an excellent start. Example – the ISA.

Wilt

This was an interesting find: http://www.neumansllp.com/legal_support/social_workers/index.html

This firm of solicitors are offering specific services to social workers and in particular dealings with the GSCC – I like them already. We will add them to our recommended list of helpful websites.

They claim to be a UK wide service and I guess out there will be a customer base to serve the frontline social workers. For certain the traffic to Regulator Watch (based on search terms) indicates there is continued anxiety among GSCC and other social care Registrants about the GSCC and others. Here are some exam-le search terms from the month so far:

mike wardle

ofsted reports sandwell social service

interim suspension order draconian

robin weekes gscc

mike wardle sacked

michael wardle ofsted

gscc south Africa

falsifying qualifications social work

suspension of the gscc’s chief executive mike wardle peter

eleni cordingley

gscc incompetent

gscc fail

sssc sites

social worker poor record keeping

can cafcass request crb checks

gscc hearings

go straight to the care standards tribunal

sssc register

gscc legal cases

sssc cases won at appeal

disband the gscc

gscc notice of decision

the power to dismiss gscc committee members

gscc fucked

social workers under investigation by the gscc

what happened before gscc

gscc investigation process

regulator mrs c

gscc bullying

gscc special measures

shirley o malley social worker

robin conduct manager gscc

gscc panel members vacancies

gscc regulator

mike-wardle

poor record keeping by social workers

hate gscc

westberkshire council tribunal

The full list of search terms which lead to Regulator Watch can be found here: webstats 21 may

What is quite remarkable is that the search term “the power to dismiss gscc committee members” was made by a well known London firm of solicitors who have frequently and regularly represented the GSCC in conduct cases, at investigation stage (conducting investigations), in prosecuting misconduct and in defending (not very successfully always) appeals to the first tier Care Standards Tribunal.

We wonder which committee member they are trying to get rid of?

This Robin Weekes fella at the GSCC seems to get a regular search on the internet – he is or was the head of conduct at the GSCC who thought he had confidentially disclosed that Mrs C (her of the Hovel) as “actually being vexatious.”  On that much he was certainly right.

Mrs C remains the most frequent visitor to Regulator Watch – bless her, the poor twat.

We will report further at the end of the month on the full access to Regulator Watch with a particular emphasis on Mrs C and her declining number of enforced and unwilling supporters.

Wilt

As per my earlier posting (see here: http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2010/02/bit-of-a-spat/) the lawyers have struck back, and rightly so.

Half Time Score:-

BASW 0 – 2 GSCC

See the Community Care Magazine article here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/08/113752/barristers-reject-basw-claim-of-ignorance-among-free-lawyers.htm

Personally, if I needed help I would get a lawyer – even if I needed to re-mortgage my house. Although having some notable success in some cases, BASW on the whole have not yet established themselves as fully up to speed and despite their “Professional Indemnity Insurance” scheme I have yet to hear of a case involving the GSCC where that has been used – it was notably lacking (and criticised) in the case of dear Lisa Arthurworrey.

Perhaps Wilt could act as a referee in this game? Mmmmmmmm.

And, as if BASW needs any further bad publicity, one of its own (former) officers needed some help in a Conduct case – we wonder if they had a Full Time BASW Advice and Mediation Officer to help them before being delivered a three year admonishment?

See the article here:

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/08/113750/ex-basw-officer-reprimanded-for-giving-misleading-evidence.htm

Oooooooops!

Final Score:-

BASW 0 – 1 Care Council for Wales

You could not make it up, really!  And here I am meant to be keeping the regulators in check – Wilt slaps his own face saying “stupid boy.”

Unless the GSCC and others continue to be stupid I am going to complain that they ruining my burgeoning second career as a web journalist – well OK bog basic blogger!  One has to say BASW are at risk of being relegated to “Dork” status unless they improve their game.

BASW have this article here: http://basw.tumblr.com/post/352488674/basw-online-exclusive-most-social-workers-choose-not Does not say anything about their success or failure rate, nor the criticism of BASW by the Care Standards Tribunal (CST – Lisa Arthurworrey) or indeed overall the number of social workers reinstated by the same Tribunal.

However having five full time officers will no doubt improve the service and, somewhat VERY belatedly address the concerns they themselves identify in the Conduct process.

However take their new look web page as pure advertising for now (you can only use the service if a member – after a period of time) to help increase membership of BASW. I will judge them on their performance in actual practice. To date that has been very mixed.

Wilt

I suppose the lady was lucky not to be a social worker – I suspect none of the Regulators (e.g. the GSCC) would have allowed her to continue to practice. See the BBC report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8486936.stm

Why are there such differences in how Regulators dispose of cases? Quite remarkable really!

Wilt

One is left in utter amazement at the differing approach to disposal made by different regulators. Today the GSCC announce that Julie Andrews (not the famous one) is removed for criminal behaviour, see here: http://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/2BAFB5F3-A321-46AB-8F61-60635AA8C312/0/NoticeofDecisionAndrews.pdf

having it seems clamed claimed various allowances dishonestly, amounting to £25000. Then one reads that a teacher, see here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8275294.stm

effectively tortured (or at least that is what it felt like to them) her young pupils in the classroom – she is banned from practice for one year for bullying children.

Now, I repeat, Wilt is a bit simple minded but does it not seem odd that there is such disparity in justice? Or have I lost the plot?

Definitely a beam me up Scotty moment, me thinks.

I think I need a large cider – it is Friday after all.

Quangoland  is a fairytale place of wonder, where all the folk are very well paid, get loads of holidays and wonderful benefits. The structure of its governance means that as a free state within a state it is accountable to no one. No one is elected in Quangoland.

Its economy is based on the Robber Baron concept of extracting taxes from those who are required to pay homage to them, and a very lucrative form of piracy where the Government of the day dole out huge sums of dosh to them.

Quangolanders are having a great time. No expense spared, not accountable to anyone and they can make up rules to serve themselves. Living in Quangoland is rather good. They love nothing better than taking the piss when all around them are trying to find real work to do and find enough dosh to feed the kids.

How do the subjects of Quangoland view them? Well, it is mixed but generally the subjects (not Quangolanders but serfs of the Robber Barons) are getting rather peeved.

“Why do we need these Quango” says one serf to the other, who responds “What good have they ever done?” Regrettably this is not a Monty Python sketch, as otherwise this story could end up supporting the Quango. In the Monty Python (Life of Brian) fashion the reply would be, “They build the roads, the aqueducts the sewerage system etc., etc.” In Quangoland however the Robber Barons have actually achieved very little, if anything – if someone has an alternative view, please do speak up. It is very probable that in many cases they have actually made things worse.

The serfs of the Quango are however in a bit of a pickle. Serfs do not have a vote and the Government who appoint them have no control over them. So what are they to do, the serfs that is? Armed insurrection? No the serfs are peaceful people. Refuse to pay their Robber Barons? All that will result is that they will end up literally in chains. Complain? Who do serfs complain to? The Barons, the Government? The Barons and indeed the Government have too much invested in each other, so what is the point. Try reasoned argument? That assumes the Quango or the Government are reasonable, and there appears little evidence of that.

Poke fun at them? Insult them? Prove that they are a ‘spot on the landscape’ (Note the Wilt connection)? YES, now that might help, if only to allow us poor serfs to have a bit of a laugh and prove we are intellectually superior to the Robber Barons of Quangoland.

A recent article to ponder over:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8198105.stm

and here:

http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/bcn136

and here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/08/gscc-draconian/

and here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/07/gscc-in-chaos/

and here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/07/gscc-not-being-transparent/

and here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/07/quango-review/

and here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/06/the-care-standards-tribunal/

and finally, here:

http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/05/gscc/

Wilt

It seems some of those in the teaching profession also have a misunderstanding of claimimg expenses and using family members as assistants on, well a jolly good holiday at the public expense. Dork. See the article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8188049.stm

Presumably she will pay it all back? Mmmmmmm, we suspect not. What is wrong with these people?  Now the head teacher is retired – she will have to pay for her own holidays now, albeit that now will be at the public expense in my tax paying for her pension. Grrrrr.

Wilt is looking forward to expenses revelations from the GSCC and the likes. What might those details reveal?

Wilt