BASW warns that financial independence for GSCC will see costs passed onto social workers
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010BASW has welcomed plans to redefine the role of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) in a move that would restrict its activities to social work, but warned that a further proposal to make the body ‘financially independent’ of government will mean social workers bearing the cost.
The Department of Health revealed yesterday that the regulator for the profession in England is set to be renamed the General Social Work Council, losing responsibility for the wider social care workforce and itself becoming regulated by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence.
The plans, outlined in the social care white paper, Building the National Care Service, stated: ‘As with the health regulatory bodies, over time the GSWC will move to financial independence and become independent of government’.
Responding to the news, BASW’s chief executive Hilton Dawson said the ‘clarification and reforms of the GSCC’s role are a positive step’ but cautioned that the move would ultimately mean hit social workers in their pockets. “This move towards greater independence for the GSCC will mean that social workers will have to bear the full cost of funding the GSCC, or General Social Work Council as it will become, in the future. We regard this as inevitable, particularly given the parlous state of public finances.” Read the full BASW article http://ow.ly/1t8cH
Loading ...
