Social workers across Scotland continue to be under resourced and undervalued for the professional services they provide. While comparable local authority professions, such as teachers, have nationally agreed pay and conditions, social workers do not. Differences in local authority pay levels mean social workers have unacceptable variations in pay and conditions. As a result of this, recruitment is influenced by the higher paying employers, this only serves to create movement in the existing workforce rather than dealing with the problem of having too few social workers and high levels of demand. 

On top of this, high workloads and caseloads largely responsive to statutory intervention, protection, and crisis work are driving burn out in our profession. Social workers are too often asked to deprioritise reflective supervision and continuous professional learning (CPL) which we know are essential for a thriving professional social work service.

We believe that the people of Scotland should have access to high-quality, properly resourced social work services wherever they live. Of course, local services must be responsive to local need and, support must be person-centred and tailored to the aspirations of individuals, families and communities.

For these reasons, SASW is asking for your support for a campaign to introduce national terms and conditions for social workers in Scotland. SASW will work with the unions, COSLA and the Scottish Government to bring about urgently needed change, and will advocate for:

1.    A dedicated local government job family for pay and conditions for social work.

2.    A consistent framework for pay that allows for rural weightings and short-term initiatives in areas that are hard to recruit to.

3.    Pay recognition/pay enhancements for additional qualifications and responsibilities.

4.    A national maximum caseload with the expectation that cases are equally split between early support/standard/complex.

5.    A reduction in administrative burden to enable social workers to spend more time with people.

6.    Reflective supervision from a qualified social worker every 6 weeks as a minimum, distinct from case supervision provided by a line manager.

7.    At least 5 days/35hrs formal training each year.

8.    Flexible working that meets the needs of social workers and our communities.

9.    Paid overtime if social workers need to do more than their contracted hours, in order to keep people safe.

Please note that there is no need to pay to support this petition.