how to get a big bonus (like bankers) as a social worker

[mirtzapine]

£600,000

That article is surely exaggerating the payout. I don't see how someone could get a £600k payout just for unfair dismissal. The law states that payouts for unfair dismissal only cover loss of earnings as a result of the dismissal. Even if she could claim e.g. 1 year's loss of earnings, I doubt she earned £600k, did she?

The only time that compensatory awards are made is for discrimination e.g. gender or racial and there was no discrimination element in her case, as far as we know.

Do you really think social workers are in it for the money op?!are you in touch with the day in day out work they do ? You try it! See how well you do . What an enflamatory post ; made me cringe on your behalf . Shame on you .

Most people do not work in the public sector for the money but that doesn't mean that people who choose to do so are selfless, hardworking and passionate about their jobs. Alot of people work in the public sector because it provides them with a job. The benefits are job security, flexible working patterns, better annual leave allowance. Equally, senior civil servants are rewarded substantially for their efforts. Surely, if you apply for a role in the civil service that has a high salary, you are entering that role with an understanding of what you will be accountable and responsible for. The very fact that you are regarded so highly for an SCS role in the public sector should be enough of an indication of this fact!

Rewarded not 'regarded'.

Goady fuckwittery

From the OP of course

She wasn't a social worker at the time she was an SCS. Plenty of people train for a job, obtain vocational qualifications and fund that themselves only to find out that in practice they are not suited to the work at all but by then it is too late as they have debts etc. How can someone argue that all SWs enjoy their work, there are some that don't but are stuck, like a lot of us, in a situation that is hard to exit as we have to pay bills etc. These people may not be the 'best' they could be- in a position they have limited interest in.

Avery, read the darn thread. That point has been answered.

Vicky Allen in the Herald puts it well, I think.

"The Baby P case has been more of a lesson in how important it is to make the right sounds of horror and display the correct emotions than it has in finding a way to protect the most vulnerable children."

OP YABU with an unwritten and therefore unclear post.

If you were saying 'there is something wrong with our unfair dismissal process that someone can get so much for basically lack of clerical process as opposed to really being unfair or prejudiced' I may have some sympathy. But wrongly conflating two issues is just er, wrong.

shoesmith sorry but I don't agree. If someone is paid to do a job as important as lead harringey child services they should be held to a very high standard. The terms they took that employment under and the lack of resources are a different issue One which also needs addressing but does not enable them to be incompetent and shrug and say 'you don't pay me enough to do a good job'

If anyone is to blame for this fiasco over Shoesmith's award it's Ed Balls for not following the proper dismissal procedure.

my mums training to be a social worker and from what she tells me they are so overworked,to the point where its not impossible to see how they can be manipulated by parents so easily.In baby Ps case he wasnt just let down by social workers,he went to hospital with a broken back for gods sake!there were doctors,people int he community,and lets not forget it was actually his parents that did it.

The doctor who saw him shortly before his death didn't notice his broken back, IIRC. The police didn't act. Social services didn't act. His rotten mother, her rotten boyfriend and their rotten lodger - one or all of them beat and abused and killed him.

There are a LOT of people who are culpable in this case. But Shoesmith is one of them - not only for failing to stop his death but for attempting to cover up her responsibility. As are some of the staff at Great Ormond Street. The doctor who missed his injuries was working for a GOSH clinic where the senior consultant had protested repeatedly that it was understaffed and unsafe. She was bullied and suspended. GOSH management also tried to cover up their role in his death. The then chief executive was a doctor herself, who clung onto her job for ages.

One of the very few people who emerges with any credit is that consultant, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/7280085/Baby-P-whistleblower-being-hounded-out-of-Great-Ormond-Street-Hospital.html Kim Holt. Who hounded out of her job.

The lesson of the story seems to be that incompetence and negligence are rewarded - see the then chief exec of Great Ormond Street and Shoesmith - while doing the right thing is punished - see Kim Holt.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/baby-p/7280085/Baby-P-whistleblower-being-hounded-out-of-Great-Ormond-Street-Hospital.html hope link works this time

Sharon shoesmith was earning a £133,000 a year, that is only about £9000 less than the PM's salary. She was a SCS in the role not a SW- the salary is very high for a public sector role and as such she would've known the duties, responsibilities and what she was accountable for. Equally, her role was obviously going to be pressurised- why would you think anything else if you are receiving an SCS salary?

An not 'a'

Very good point, Goldenbear.

Loved the comment from her 'friends' that, shock, horror, the poor woman had been reduced to claiming unemployment benefit when she lost her job. The poor dear, imagine...