Social workers are empowered with duties and powers deriving from the authority given to them by law and statute. But what right do social workers have to intervene through the law? What authority do social workers have and where does it come from? Clark (2000) outlines three basic justifications for professional social workers to exercise their legal powers:
G Professional power is exercised through the law and therefore what constitutes appro- priate conduct must relate to how the law defines the rights of citizens and the duties of social workers to intervene.
G Law should be made through the consent of citizens and it should both promote the general good and not compromise human rights in doing so.
G Professional power should be informed by professional expertise to promote the general good and protect human rights.
This legitimacy to act becomes complex when confronting the messiness of social work practice and the way in which the law is codified. This requires social workers to interpret what the relevant statutes actually intend. The law by itself is not value-free or objective. It embodies values of its own which reflect the power of dominant groups in society to frame and influence what the law should embody. Social workers need to view the legisla- tive process with some scepticism and constantly scrutinise its operation.
One example can be gleaned from the NHS and Community Care Act 1990: sections 46 and 47 impose a duty on local authorities to provide information to service users about services and a duty to assess need. The problem from a values point of view is that there is no duty to provide the services that the assessment has identified. Yet on the other hand the law does not say the local authority can do nothing as a result of the assessment, so there may be areas for social workers to negotiate and intervene on the service user’s behalf to achieve an element of what the assessment identifies in terms of service delivery. In respect of community care legislation, the Act enables local authorities considerable flexibility in deciding which needs are addressed.
Local authorities also have the power to withdraw services. This followed the Gloucester judgement which decided that services could be withdrawn subject to a reassessment of need if a local authority was faced with resource problems requiring resources to be rationed to prevent overspending (R v Gloucestershire County Council, ex parte Barry [1997] 2 WLR 459). For social workers then, it is imperative that they understand both the potential to use the law in respect of protecting people from harm, and also its limita- tions. Our example of community care law shows the way in which limitations affect the rights of service users when their social support is reduced.
Comment
This case identifies the difficulties social workers face when explaining policy which they disagree with. On the one hand you are accountable as an employee to the local authority which employs you, but you are also accountable to Mr Barry. To use a colloquial expression you are caught between ‘a rock and a hard place’. On reflection, it is appropriate for you to inform Mr Barry that you do not personally agree with the decision. You could also take the case further by suggesting that Mr Barry uses the legal route to appeal against this decision and you could offer to link him with one of the many local and national pressure/service users groups who might take his case further. You could take the issue back to your man- agers and lobby on Mr Barry’s behalf; you might also join with other social workers who have experienced similar problems and put together a case to feed back to your managers. You might take the issue through the local branch of your union (Unison) to apply pressure through the local joint committees upon which employers and union representatives sit. As a social worker you are not just an employee, but a professional who has a range of responsibilities which do not begin and end with your responsibility to your employer, although this clearly constitutes one of your responsibilities. As social workers are increas- ingly involved in rationing resources and prioritising cases, they are caught in a dichotomous accountability in which a concern for individual service users and the service they receive is constantly challenged by the need to ration and control resources. To be accountable, social workers need to balance the corporate responsibility they hold and their duty of service to service users.
The tensions highlighted above draw attention to the ambiguous nature of accountability. Social workers’ professional associations have recognised this, as the definition of social work below identifies:
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Let us assume that you are the social worker who originally assessed Mr Barry’s needs and you are working with him. You have realised that he, along with many others in the local authority, has had his domiciliary support reduced.
How should you respond when he asks you:
1 To explain the actions of the local authority that you work for. 2 To explain where your accountability lies.
A C T I V I T Y
4 . 2
Disabled people take care issues to court
In 1995 six disabled people launched a test case in the High Court over the right to com- munity care services. Five pensioners, one of them a Mr Barry, challenged decisions by Gloucestershire County Council to reduce or cut home help and respite care services because of lack of money.
Comment
Clearly paragraph (d) supports an ethical stance to challenge your employer. In particular, the bullet points outlined make it clear your duty is to challenge if you feel an employer’s policies run counter to the interests of service users, especially if they operate unfairly or are oppressive and disempowering. Your employer may argue that by cutting domiciliary services across the board they do not discriminate against any one service user. However,
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If we return to the case of Mr Barry, we have already outlined in the comment possible courses of action. From the definition of social work above from the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), what elements could be used by you to justify challenging your employer’s actions?
A C T I V I T Y
4 . 3
2. Definition of Social Work
Social workers will:
(a) Strive to carry out the stated aims of their employing organisation, provided that they are consistent with this Code of Ethics;
(b) Aim for the best possible standards of service provision and be accountable for their practice;
(c) Use the organisation's resources honestly and only for their intended purpose; (d) Appropriately challenge, and work to improve, policies, procedures, practices and
service provisions which:
G Are not in the best interests of service users; G Are inequitable or unfairly discriminatory; or
G Are oppressive, disempowering, or culturally inappropriate;
(e) Endeavour, if policies or procedures of employing bodies contravene professional standards, to effect change through consultation, using appropriate organisational channels;
(f) Take all reasonable steps to ensure that employers are aware of the Code of Ethics for Social Work, and advocate conditions and policies which reflect its ethical position; (g) Uphold the ethical principles and responsibilities of this Code, even though employers’
policies or instructions may not be compatible with its provisions, observing the values and principles of this Code when attempting to resolve conflicts between ethical principles and organisational policies and practices.
you may want to argue that in respect of Mr Barry the cut in service may have the conse- quences of being particularly oppressive and discriminatory if it means he is unable to support himself in the community like others in a similar position.
By advocating for Mr Barry you are operating in a responsive fashion within the con- straints of your position as a social worker, paid by the state to enact a particular role. This means as a paid employee you are subsequently accountable to your employer and if you are unable to manage this tension between service users and your employing organisation then you need to consider if the role of social worker is one that you feel capable of carry- ing out (see Table 4.1).
Table 4.1 Nature of conflicts with service user
Enact social change Enact social control
Advise Direct
Enable Control
Advocate Manage