Working with service users & carers
The importance of working with people who use services and carers
The College of Social Work will develop in partnership with service users and carers. This means that service users will have a strong voice throughout The College and all of its activities.
Everything that The College does with social workers will ultimately impact on people who use services and their carers. From staff training, to promoting excellence, what The College does can help create services that support rights, choice, control and independence. By working in partnership with service users and involving them in all levels of College business, we will have the greatest chance of creating the services that people want to use.
Throughout the development stages, we have consulted with a wide range of people who use social work services and carers. To find out what people told us, visit our consultation pages.
These engaging events helped shape the Strategic Vision for The College.
Our commitment
We are committed to developing The College in partnership with people who use social work services and carers. We believe that this is the only way to create an organisation that is accountable to its members, models the values it expects its members to hold, promotes better outcomes for people who use services, and helps create the services that people want to use.
Service users and carers will have a voice in all College activity, through membership on the board, through networks of service users and carers, by taking part in relevant College working groups, leading projects for service users and carers, taking part in consultations, and joining The College as an Associate Member.
What we will do
We want to make sure that service user and carer involvement is meaningful and has a real impact on what we do. This means that we need to make sure that our processes, policies and products support and enable user and carer involvement.
We intend to:
- Implement a single equalities policy to remove any barriers there may be to meaningful and influential participation by people who use social work services. We will use Equalities Impact Assessments to identify any barriers.
- take a positive approach to equality in recruitment. We will support our staff through reasonable adjustments and flexible working so that our commitment to participation is reflected in our workforce.
- have a policy on paying service users and carers who are involved in our work. This will make sure that everyone who takes part in College activities has equal status and is clearly valued by us.
- provide clear information to people who use social work services and carers about what they can expect from social workers, and what to do if things go wrong. This information will be available in different formats through our website. We will also promote this information to our members so that the information is readily available for the service users and carers that they work with.
The Wider Reference Group
Since May 2010 we’ve been working with a ‘Wider Reference Group’ of over 50 user led organisations, charities, campaigning and government bodies.
Representatives from these organisations have been meeting with us on a regular basis and have been providing advice on areas of expertise. Together we are exploring the development of The College, and discussing its’ role, remit and impact in relation to people who use services and carers.
All organisations involved in The Wider Reference Group are helping us to develop a College which involves people who use services and carers, acting upon their feedback, aspirations and concerns for the future of social work.
The terms of reference for the Wider Reference Group are:
- to provide advice on areas of expertise
- support wider stakeholder engagement and consultation through key networks.
Read all notes and minutes from the Wider Reference Group meetings:
See below for a full list of Wider Reference Group organisations:
Action for Prisoners’ Families
Action on Hearing Loss (Formerly RNID)
Adfam
Aspect
Association for Real Change
Association of Lawyers for Children
BASW
British Association for Adoption and Fostering
Carers UK
Children England
CLIC Sargent
College of Occupational Therapists
Contact A Family
DfE
DH
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
English Community Care Association
Equalities National Council
Family Rights Group
Fatherhood Institute
General Social Care Council
Grandparents Plus
Jewish Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care
Mental Health Foundation
NAGALRO
NASWE
National Care Association
National Organisation for Practice Teaching
NCIL
NSPCC
People First
Race Equality Foundation
Shaping Our Lives
Skills For Care
Social Care Association
Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP)
Social Work Action Network
The Children’s Commissioner
The Fostering Network
The Grandparents’ Association
The National Council for Palliative Care
The National Skills Academy for Social Care
The Victoria Climbie Foundation
The Who Cares? Trust
Trust For London
User Voice
VODG
Want to get involved?
There are a number of ways that you can get involved in The College:
- Board membership: service users representatives sit on the board.
- Service user and carer network: service users and carers will be able to participate in a network that supports service user and carer involvement through The college.
- Working groups: service users and carers will be represented on relevant every working groups within The College.
- Leading projects: service users and carers will control projects that are important to their peers.
- Media work: service users and carers will be trained to talk to the media about aspects of their social work experiences.
- Consultations: service users and carers will be invited to tell us their views through regular consultations.
- College membership: service users and carers will be able to join The College as Associate Members.