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

According to several reports to Wilt Mrs C has also been busy, talking to the BBC, ITN News and the Mirror Group about her woes. A certain Salop person reported a visit on their website from ITN and the Mirror Group – not by any means by accident. He also reports certain persons in Oxon had similar visits to their website (BBC/ITN) – the person in Salop is disappointed he had no visit from the BBC!

By some very strange coincidence Regulator Watch has had visits from all three! Excellent, we love it. Bring it on.

What fucking story is she now promulgating, apart from “I am a victim” and “people are out to get me”? No doubt she claims she is “misunderstood, misrepresented and people keep saying things about me. I am a solicitor you know”, as she frequently and (FRAUDUENTLY) claims. We like the word “fraud” as it is so synonymous with Mrs C.

Munchausen Syndrome is a serious condition – it means you staying up all night and spending all day on tasks associated with promoting victim status for the sufferer. Never mind fostering, children, family, doing work  or generally having a normal life – in this case Mrs Fax is faxing, emailing, surfing the net, phoning anyone who is willing to hear from her – not many anymore.

She is a spent cause; she is a “dead parrot” in another scenario and a very, very sad case. Very sad indeed, and very desperate! Her health and that of her family, those she is meant to care for her so called career will be suffering, and if she persists will suffer even more as she and her pet (no longer) MP fail consistently to get even a fingernail hold on her desperate, stale and fraudulent claims.

Bully Girl Mrs C is fast becoming a total non-entity. She digging deeper down that dark hole and a hollow voice cries out – “hello!” Sadly no one listens, no one wants to hear her FALSE cries of despair and victimisation. The truth is that all those agencies, press, local authorities, the Milk Marketing Board and quango have now for a long time “sorted” Mrs C into the category of a “minor irritation.”

It is not nice being in a dark hole – it is damp, dark and rather restricted. Putting yourself in that dark hole is just plain stupid. Some people however just cannot help it.

Dit………dit……….dit…….dot….dot……..dot etc., etc there is more news coming in – oooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr Mrs C. Did she really do that!? Gawd forbid, Gawd help her.

Wilt

The regulators have been busy again. The Care Council for Wales (CCW) case was something of a no brainer: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/04/22/114349/Children39s-worker-struck-off-for-meat-cleaver-attack-on.htm

Generally a meat cleaver is not a social work tool, not of course that Wilt is prejudiced against social workers with meat cleavers – he is more scared of them, or indeed anyone who has a meat cleaver.

As it was such an easy case to analyse (all the work was done by the police and the employer) there was little time lost in CCW arriving at its judgement.

Meanwhile the General Social Care Council (GSCC) has taken a little longer (3 years) to impose an i8 month sanction in this case: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/04/22/114341/social-worker-admonished-for-putting-vulnerable-adult-at-risk.htm

Personally, I think 18 months is rather disproportionate and especially after the woman admitted her error and it was a professional error three years ago. What exactly does this 18 month admonishment achieve? A far shorter admonishment or even a no sanction outcome could be justified.

Readers may remember this case: http://regulatorwatch.co.uk/2009/08/mooo/ and more particularly this article: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/13/112353/gscc-criticised-for-lamentable-delay-in-bringing-conduct-case.htm

Now the GSCC conduct committee did qualify their reason not to make a sanction by stating:

“However, it said this was an isolated incident in a 25-year career and no service user was put at risk or harmed by McLauchlan’s actions, making a sanction unnecessary.”

That is a reasonable point, but it still does not explain the very different outcomes of disposal in the two cases. Another Care Standards Tribunal matter, perhaps?

Perhaps the GSCC is slipping into old ways again?

Wilt (from his desk in Malta)

There are two new judgements published by the Care Standards Tribunal (CST) and three new cases listed by the GSCC for April.

Of the two CSCT http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/ cases it includes that of Jacinta Hofstetter who is something of a notable GSCC case as can be illustrated in the very complex, detailed and rather lengthy judgement published by the CST: http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/Public/View.aspx?ID=1074

It is worth reading and although both Wilt and others are highly critical of the GSCC it does make it clear that the regulator did on this occasion not only get it right but bend over backwards to do so – the CST are usually spot-on.

Supporters of Jacinta have posted previously their concerns about her treatment at the hands of Brent Council and in particular the GSCC.

Read, and make up your own minds.

In the second CST case it is Jayne Sedgewick  v The Care Council For Wales (CCW). She is suspended primarily for her activities as a foster parent although it is her social work role that is pending a judgement by a full Conduct Hearing by the CCW.

Presently she is suspended from the social care register and Sedgewick has appealed against this. She has already had her registration removed as a foster parent and no longer employed. The criminal proceedings against her were however dropped.

Here is an extract from the judgement:

“Mrs Sedgewick is a registered social worker and also a foster carer working for an independent agency. In 2006 she and her husband fostered a 15 year old girl (A). Whilst in their care A entered into a relationship with an older man aged 19. It is alleged that Mrs Sedgewick knew about this and indeed allowed the boy to sleep with A at their house. She did not discuss this relationship with the childs social worker nor with her own support worker. As a result of this relationship A became pregnant. It is further alleged that on an occasion in March 2006 Mrs Sedgewick and A went on a shopping trip to Telford and stayed overnight in a Hotel. During the course of the evening it is alleged that Mrs Sedgewicke became drunk, allowed A to drink, became involved with a group of men, claimed A was her stepdaughter and aged 18 and allowed her to go to one of the men’s room where sexual activity took place. It is further alleged that when this matter came out she attempted to influence the man involved to lie about the evening.”

These of course are allegations at present time but if they prove to be correct then she must be listed as about the most dangerous of social workers (and former foster carer) in the UK. Dork would not be sufficiently expletive or descriptive – total fucking idiot comes close to it but I think I will settle on fucking twat.

Why is this woman still on the Register? Again the ever sensible CST give a clue:

“It appears to us given the gravity of the allegations and the matters we have outlined above that continued suspension is appropriate and we therefore dismiss the appeal. We have had cause previously to raise questions about the delay in bringing cases to hearing and the concomitant length of suspensions imposed by the Care Councils. In this case the effect of delay is extreme in that pending a final determination Mrs Sedgewick is actually free to work as a social worker from 31 March as the two year maximum period of suspension will have passed. This cannot be in the public interest. We note the particular difficulties of this case, firstly the criminal proceedings and the complications therein and latterly the hearings brought by her employer and the fostering agency. Nonetheless there is a tendency for the Care Council(s) to treat enquiries sequentially and allow other procedures to take place before they make their own enquiries. We would urge upon them a more proactive approach, particularly in cases like this when time limits are involved.”

In other words Care Council for Wales (CCW), get off your fucking arse and sort it out – twats. What is wrong with these people?

The full judgement can be found here: http://www.carestandardstribunal.gov.uk/Public/View.aspx?ID=1075

Meanwhile recently concluded GSCC case matters are listed here: http://www.gscc.org.uk/Conduct/Conduct_hearings/recently_concluded_hearings/

Again some interesting reading, for those junkies like me.

The upcoming cases are listed here: http://www.gscc.org.uk/Conduct/Conduct_hearings/Upcoming_hearings/

There is an error on the page – the first case will not load-up after clicking on it and so the details are unknown.

In the two other cases http://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6A16FCE1-0478-4903-9DDD-FE9D9D5C978B/0/InformationSMITHB.pdf it involves alleged theft of goods and services from a children’s home and in the second casehttp://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/43835DE4-21D7-4CAE-AE8C-8887883E6AC9/0/InformationSALISBURY.pdf falsification of case records (purporting to make visits to children/families).

These are of course allegations – the cases are yet to be proved.

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

What is wrong with some of these social workers? They obviously understand what they are doing is wrong. See the article here: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/10/114024/social-worker-accused-of-sexual-relationship-with-client.htm

Of course it is not only social workers, it is doctors, dentists, psychiatric nurses, lawyers, probation officers, especially teachers and even foster carers. Of course, we must not forget the priests all over the catholic world. And it is not just men nut women too and regrettably it also sometimes involves children and young people being sexually exploited and/or abused.

More bromide in the tea we think. Does that work on women too?

Actually, it is no joking matter – these people are predators who inflict huge damage to their victims in the pursuit of their perverse fantasies.

Wilt