From the Front Line is a new series where social workers share their experiences on various topics and running issues within the sector. To express an interest in taking part, email us at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com
Good management can be the difference between a fulfilling career in social work and practitioners being driven out of the profession.
A 2024 Community Care poll found that social workers were more likely to leave an employer over unsupportive management than pay.
The same year, professor Eileen Munro, who led the 2010-11 review of child protection in England, warned that senior management was more detached from the front line than ever.
“Once you’re away from the front line, you forget quite how chaotic and messy the reality of it is,” she said. “You get a much cleaner, more sanitised version of it. That’s dangerous.”
With high caseloads, increasingly complex needs and a shrinking pool of experienced staff, frontline social workers need to rely more than ever on their managers for guidance and support. But are they getting it?
We spoke to three practitioners about their experience with management - both at team and senior level - and the impact it has had on them.
Frontline social worker, 38, 10 years qualified
There is a huge disconnect between senior managers and frontline practitioners. I have found local authorities to be disempowering and often oppressive organisations to work for.
The style of management influences the organisational culture, although this can vary across different services within the same local authority.
In my local authority, a wellbeing survey was carried out to explore the reasons for low staff morale and recruitment and retention issues. When the poor results came back, managers seemed surprised and, rather than asking staff what the issues were and how they could be addressed, they had their own meetings to discuss what should be done. But how would they know if they don’t let us speak?
There is such a reluctance from senior management to listen to, truly understand, and address issues raised by staff. Local authorities are hierarchical – so many layers of managers – and practitioners are not routinely encouraged or invited to give feedback and suggestions and raise issues.
My team manager has openly said they feel intimidated by senior managers." I don’t think any manager should feel like this. All managers should be accountable to workers and service users, and we should be able to give feedback on their performance as they do on ours.
The principal social worker role is effectively meaningless in some local authorities, where the person also acts as a senior manager. They are often not approachable and don’t want to be!
I also believe all managers should carry a caseload - small but still including complex cases to reflect their higher pay. Direct work will ensure they stay in touch with the reality of social work today, understand our roles and the challenges we face, and become better managers.
Celebrate those who've inspired you
Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can't help but gush about?
Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.
Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*
If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com
Social work assistant, four years of experience
As a social work assistant, I have had the opportunity to observe and interact with senior management in various capacities.
I have collaborated with managers on child in need and independent child protection conference cases and helped families with no recourse to public funds. One key initiative involved improving transport services for looked-after children to ensure efficiency while saving money for the local authority.
Working with them helped me develop a better understanding of strategic planning, professionalism and the expectations that come with leadership roles.
Generally, I have had very positive experiences with most managers and our service director. However, my experience under my current temporary team manager has been significantly different and, unfortunately, negative.
A key concern is the lack of support, which has contributed to increased anxiety and uncertainty about my job security." They frequently make comments, albeit in a joking manner, about taking my job away. But given their position of authority, these remarks create a genuine sense of unease.
Additionally, I have been excluded from key responsibilities, and my role within the team has been diminished.
Effective management is crucial in fostering a fair and supportive work environment. A team manager’s ability to be fair and inclusive can strengthen staff confidence and job satisfaction and enhance overall team cohesion and productivity.
Positive leadership encourages collaboration, trust and a sense of value among employees, ultimately contributing to a more engaged and high-performing team.
Organisations need to ensure that those in leadership positions, even temporary ones, are adequately trained and aligned with professional standards.
Adults’ social worker, 54, 24 years qualified
The majority of managers that I've worked with have had little frontline experience. While in the minority, those with more years in frontline social work have tended to be much better managers.
They can give sound advice on incredibly complex cases, where sometimes you need to have good, well-rounded, professional discussions with your manager to talk through thoughts and ideas.
However, that lack of experience in most senior management levels makes it difficult to find the level of practice knowledge needed for these conversations.
On previous occasions, I’ve had managers shut down the conversation because they felt insecure." This isolates the frontline worker and increases the stress and pressure around complex cases.
In one of my cases, I had been allocated an older married couple where the wife had dementia. I completed a Mental Capacity Act assessment and decided it would be best for her to go into a care home to receive the care she needed.
But the husband's situation was much more complex. I suspected he had undiagnosed high-functioning autism. He also had cancer, which in the end was terminal, and was refusing to engage in treatment and with the appropriate care services.
I turned to my supervisor/team manager about the case. I wanted to gain some insight and hear their thoughts on autism, how to go about my assessment and the best way to move forward.
Instead, my supervisor shut down the conversation and told me that, as the social worker completing the assessment(s), the responsibility sat with me.
I have worked in a lot of local authories and, sadly, this attitude and response from managers and supervisors is very common. This has happened to me more than once with complex cases, particularly with safeguarding enquiries and mental capacity assessments.
What has been your experience with social work mentors?
We are looking for social workers to share their experiences to spark conversation among fellow practitioners. Have you had a social work mentor? How did they helped you? How was their support different to a supervisor's?Share your perspective through a 10-minute interview (or a few short paragraphs) to be published in Community Care. Submissions can be anonymous.
To express interest, email us at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.
