PRACTICE A mandate for social work The prominence of wellbeing in the Care Act provides the chance for social workers to offer professional leadership, writes Bernard Walker A The Act gives social workers the opportunity to develop forms of practice in which people can create their own solutions s the Care Act comes into force at the start of April social workers will need to see it as an opportunity. It plays to our strengths in providing a platform for a social model of care. Crucially, the first part of the legislation covers the promotion of wellbeing and hands this responsibility to local authorities. As a knowledge-based profession, combining evidence from academic disciplines with the experience of people who use services and their carers, social workers are ideally equipped to take the lead on this. The concept of wellbeing, as described in the governments guidance to the Act, is wide-ranging and includes: personal dignity; physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing; protection from abuse and neglect; control over day-to-day life; participation in work, education, training or recreation; social and economic wellbeing; domestic, family and personal life; suitability of living accommodation; and the individuals contribution to society. It emphasises that they are of equal importance if wellbeing is to be considered in the round. What a mandate for social work! person-centred one. The emphasis shifts to working with people to achieve the outcomes the service user wants, often in complex circumstances involving a range of contradictory relationships. Its important to remember that the Care Act is the first comprehensive piece of legislation for adult social care for more than 60 years. Despite numerous piecemeal reforms after the National Assistance Act 1948, the legal framework for adults with social care needs remained that of the immediate post-war period until recently. The Law Commission review was established in mid-2008 before the dawn of the age of austerity, and hopefully its findings will remain in force long after it has ended. Although austerity is something social workers are aware of daily, local authorities are responding to its challenges in different ways. The Act gives social workers the opportunity to develop forms of practice in which people can create their own solutions, for example by using an asset-based approach to supplement limited resources or by supporting and evaluating user-led innovations. By doing so we can help local authorities to adopt a policy of investing Collectively and individually, social workers have a responsibility to speak truth to power, whether to central or local government Our belief that people are the best judge of their own wellbeing means ensuring that they are well informed of the options and fully involved in decisions affecting their lives. This isnt necessarily straightforward, but social workers have the skills to achieve a balance between the individuals wellbeing and that of any friends or relatives who are involved in their care. The Acts vision is an integrated system of care and support that is personcentred. This in itself plays to social works long history of working closely and effectively with health professionals and others in integrated settings. We need to have confidence that we can offer professional leadership at all levels, particularly through our understanding of the psychological and social lives of people. Many other professions have a much narrower range of expertise limiting their focus to symptoms, categories or problems. Social work can help the other professions with whom they work humanise their systems and processes, a good example being its contribution to Making Safeguarding Personal. This has been critical in moving from a processdriven approach to safeguarding to a in their communities, focusing on the benefits that their resources can produce rather than on how to protect themselves from excessive demand. Inevitably, the Act will bring tensions, for example around assessment. Too often social workers have been required to use their core skills to ration scarce resources rather than as the basis for a personalised support plan. In some authorities they cannot use their creativity to work with people to exercise choice or control because the only option is to choose from a small range of approved providers. Another danger is that the sheer volume of referrals will result in a process that is depersonalised and bureaucratic. A consequence of taking the responsibility to promote wellbeing seriously may be that social workers question whether social care needs are in fact the result of shortfalls in the availability or performance of other services. If, say, a working age disabled persons needs relate to education, training or employment, social workers should argue for them to be met and funded through those services rather than seek social care substitutes. Similarly, as the definition of wellbeing includes social and economic factors, together with the suitability of living accommodation, social workers can legitimately challenge housing and benefits services. Collectively and individually, social workers have a responsibility to speak truth to power, whether to central or local government, or to other interests when their actions affect the lives of disabled or older people. While this isnt always comfortable we need to put our As the definition of wellbeing includes social and economic factors, together with the suitability of living accommodation, social workers can legitimately challenge housing and benefits services knowledge, evidence and understanding at the disposal of the individuals and groups we came into this work to support. We should use the Care Act to help us do so. Bernard Walker is chair of The College of Social Works Professional Assembly. The article is based on discussions over the past 12 months in The Colleges Adults Faculty. Particular thanks are due to Don Brand