Implications for Social Work Practice
An effect of austerity is often to isolate individuals – service users and staff – from their wider communities. It is hard to effect change as a social worker in isolation.
What impact could Budget cuts have on the nature of social work?
As a result of budget cuts, social care workers have had to do more with less in order to maintain the quality of the care they provide. Vacancy and turnover rates in adult social care jobs are high, and continue to rise.
How does economics affect social work?
Less money equals less to pay people with, which inevitably results in fewer jobs. The close link between government revenue and the number of social worker positions that are able to be funded, makes the economy the single most powerful determiner of the number of social work positions available.
