The Council has also voted to charge for all services and increase the cost of those we already charge for. Many services have had their funding cut and have therefore had to close, these include mental health provisions, sheltered workshops and employment advisors – all mental health day centres are due to close.
Actually being able to access services is also becoming increasingly difficult, we have reclassified the level at which people become eligible to critical cases only.
Working arrangements are being heavily restructured with job losses to team managers, senior practitioners and swathes of administrators. The current plan is for integrated and senior social workers like myself to be pulled back into generic social work. However, senior practitioner roles are being abolished.
The new post of ‘consultant practitioner’ will be introduced, though not enough of them will exist to match the number of displaced senior practitioners. Also, these roles will be heavily managerial, leaving very little time for frontline work. I can compete for one of these new roles against my colleagues (although I do not want to be a manager) or else I can hope there are some posts available at a lower level, forcing me to take a demotion and pay cut. If neither of these options are available, which is a possibility, then I will be made redundant.“
