Quarter of social workers handling 30 cases at once

TUES 23/03/2010 - Almost a quarter of Social Workers are handling more than 30 cases at once and 47% have 20 or more cases at any one time according to a survey conducted by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW).

The survey also found that 56% of Social Workers have seriously considered leaving the profession in the last year and 58% felt that lighter caseloads and extra staff are the most urgent priorities for improving their working life.

The survey is based on the views of 395 BASW members in an online survey, The State of Social Work Today.

BASW is campaigning for the establishment of a UK College of Social Work led by their organisation. Hilton Dawson, Chief Executive of BASW said: "The results of this survey are extremely encouraging and confirm what we already knew, that a College of Social Work across the UK would help transform the status and standing of a profession that a successful society could not survive without. Other professions such as nursing, law, medicine, midwifery and psychiatry have colleges and Social Work is in desperate need of one too and it needs to be independent and run by Social Workers for Social Workers."