Union warns of a 'Granny P' tragedy

Author: Local Government Chronicle - Aug 19, 2009

Posted in: Reform and Personalisation of Public Services / Reform of the Adult Social Care System / Local Government News

An adult social services outrage on a par with the Baby P tragedy is bound to happen without urgent reform to the current system, Britain’s largest public-sector union has warned.

Unison said that services for vulnerable adults were under severe strain and pointed to a survey of social workers that showed almost two-thirds believed their departments were more poorly resourced than five years ago.

It said 86% of respondents reported increased caseloads, while 61% said their department had vacancy levels above 10%, and one in 20 respondents said that up to 40% of posts were unfilled.

Helga Pile, Unison’s head of social services, said social workers dealing with vulnerable adults needed to have their cause championed in the face of the ageing society and growing numbers of dementia sufferers.

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