Social Work Action Network response to Grenfell Tower and Unison petition against National Accreditation and Assessment System

Social Work Action Network (Swan) brings together social work academics, students, practitioners and service users to campaign for social work that advances society rather than the twin dysfunctionalities of 'managerialism' and privatisation.(1)

The following is presented here with permission as a Guest blog post, having been received by the Kwug Blog editor as a Swan London mailing list member.

Social Work Action Network response to Grenfell Tower and Unison petition against NAAS

Dear SWAN London supporters,

Grenfell Tower

SWAN has issued the following statement on the Grenfell Tower tragedy:
http://socialworkfuture.org/articles-resources/uk-articles/567-swan-statement-on-the-grenfell-disaster-social-work-must-critique-policy-not-simply-deliver-it

Here is another insightful blog on the same topic posted on the BASW site:
https://www.basw.co.uk/blog/blog_read.php?pid=33

National Assessment and Accreditation Systems (NAAS)

You may be familiar with Unison's recent national survey about the proposed National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) for Childrens' Social Workers. SWAN support Unison's position that the government should scrap plans to roll out its new assessment and accreditation scheme for social workers because it will take up valuable time that could be spent helping families in need.

Unison has just launched an on-line national petition to call on the new Minister for Children to drop the NAAS.

Here is the link to the petition, which non- Unison members can also sign:

https://action.unison.org.uk/ page/10353/petition/1?en_chan= tw  

In solidarity

SWAN London

--

Social Work Action Network (SWAN) London

Visit the national SWAN website at http://socialworkfuture.org/

Sign up for the Critical and Radical Social Work journal at http://www.policypress.co.uk/journals_crsw.asp

Note

 http://socialworkfuture.org/who-we-are

Importance of 'armchair activism'

From Carer Watch — the online self-help network for and of family-based carers

Don’t knock armchair activism – its an important part of our work

copied from DPAC

There are a lot of activists who don’t like petitions. They don’t sign them. They don’t share them. They look down on them as not being worthwhile.

And quite often they are right. Most petitions are a waste of time and energy. But just occasionally one petition will take off and it will change the world, just a little bit.

A case in point is this petition - Hold an inquiry into benefit sanctions that killed my brother

After 211,778 signed this petition the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee have taken up the case and launched an inquiry :-

Here is the press release from Change.org and an article in the Mirror about it

---

 Continue reading on Carer Watch website....