UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch
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Social Work Social Work Home UNISON Scotland SW Resource Pages Occupational Therapists Joint Future			UNISON CITY OF EDINBURGH BRANCH SUBMISSION TO THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE MEETING 6 SEPTEMBER 2005 ITEM 9: SENIOR MANAGEMENT AUDIT OF CHILD PROTECTION UNISON broadly welcomes the report from the Director of Children and Families and believes it reflects the reality experienced by front-line child protection practitioners. In particular we welcome: The clear statement about the high quality of professional practice in protecting Edinburgh's children despite the widely acknowledged difficult circumstances. The fact that the staff survey was anonymous and that plans are laid out to address freely expressed concerns. UNISON believes this takes us one step further than other local authorities in genuinely seeking the views of practitioners at the ''coal face'. The fact that staff welcomed the audit and put considerable additional work into it. This validates UNISON's statements since O'Brien that staff are committed to delivering best practice despite resource issues, negative press and societal 'blame' culture. The Scottish Executive report showing that the public broadly understand and appreciate social workers and the work they do, demonstrates that such a 'blame culture' is not inevitable. Rather it is fostered by the media and on occasion by political statements. While UNISON welcomes additional resources in the form of Child Protection Administrative Staff, Social Work Assistants and planned additional Senior Practitioners, we have concerns that this high standard of practice cannot be maintained within current staffing levels. In particular we highlight:- There are still child protection cases where an allocated social worker cannot be provided. There is a large number of newly qualified staff who are not yet able to do child protection, leaving intolerable burdens on other staff. Operational pressures on Senior Social Workers and Practice Team Managers as a result means that they cannot maintain Child Protection Audits at the high level intended. It is therefore UNISON's view that the level of referrals, the high standards expected and the increasing complexity of Child Protection work demonstrates that being fully staffed to current establishments is not sufficient to ensure safe practice. UNISON therefore urges the Executive to proceed urgently with plans for additional staffing to reduce average children allocated to 14. However we urge the Executive to review its plans to ensure finance for additional staff meet current demands in the first instance. John Ross Branch Service Conditions Convenor (APT&C)     top