Welsh social workers warned about impact of impending cuts

Social workers in Wales are happier than those in England – but the sector must ensure it future proofs itself against the looming spectres of austerity and structural change.

This was the conclusion of a panel discussion between social services professionals in Cardiff, held as part of the presentation of Guardian research, which shows 87% of social workers in Wales are happy in their jobs, compared with 79% of their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

The survey results showed a generally more positive picture for the sector in Wales, and the panel agreed that the results ring true with what they see on the ground. “There’s been a sense of ongoing focus on what we want from social work and where we want to take social work,” said Rhian Huw Williams, chief executive of the Care Council for Wales.

But despite the relatively rosy picture, social services in Wales are gearing up for several changes. Jonathan Scourfield, deputy head of Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, said: “Cuts are going to come and change is going to have to happen, but it’s about what holding onto what’s important.”

Welsh social services have so far been protected from the full force of the government’s austerity agenda; spending on social services in Wales dropped by less than 1% between 2010-15. In the same period, English services saw cuts to budgets of 11.5%. But this looks set to change. Neil Ayling, director of community services at Flintshire county council, told the audience of social care professionals that: “Resource constraints are going to build in relation to social care and health, and have built in my authority very much so this year.”

Sue Cooper, corporate director of social services and wellbeing at Bridgend county borough council, echoed this, saying: “The cuts may not be as big for us in Wales as in England but … what we’re experiencing now is significant for us.” Huws Williams raised her concern that the cuts and changes shouldn’t be used used as an excuse to reduce the numbers of social workers in Wales.

Other key changes affecting the sector are the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, which will be implemented in April. Cooper said she thought the workforce were excited about the act, as it meant a return to “real social work practice”, rather than process-driven work dominated by spending time at a computer. Another big shift is the potential reduction of Welsh local authorities from 22 down to single figures. “Local government reorganisation is something that may well disturb some of the positive things that have happened [in the sector],” said Ayling.

One of the less positive findings of the Guardian survey was that 82% of Welsh social workers said they needed to pay more attention to their own wellbeing. Cooper argued that this has a connection to retention of staff, which is a common problem in social services. “The biggest issue [for retaining staff] is the supervision they’ve had and the workload, the caseloads they have. And that’s the real key thing I think that will make a social worker feel stressed and feel that they want to leave.”

Possible solutions to this, Cooper suggested, could be supporting staff to work flexibly or from home, and trusting them to do so. Scourfield echoed some of Cooper’s concerns: “One thing that does trouble me a little about these findings is that fewer respondents in Wales said they had supervision” – despite evidence showing supervision can help mitigate stress.

But Ayling argued that recruitment and retention were a success story for Welsh social services. “Ten years ago local authorities were looking all over the place for social workers and undoubtedly that’s not the case now ... certainly the area that I work in in north Wales there’s much less reliance on agency social workers.” This is reflected in the survey results; 60% of recruiters say it’s easy to retain good social workers in Wales – 17% more than in the rest of the UK.

Overall, the mood was one of optimism and pride that investment in Welsh social services seems to have paid off. One crucial element of this is the different political environments in Wales and England. “The general tone from ministers in England is social workers are probably a bit rubbish,” said Scourfield. “We don’t have that negative political climate in Wales.”

• What has changed since these results were published? Take our quick Social Lives survey 2016 and tell us here.

For more details about the Guardian Social Lives survey in Wales contact stacey-rebekka.karlsson@theguardian.com