Social workers

[wherearerhou]

Do they have a lot of freedom in their daily work life? For instance, are they able to set up their diary each day? Can they stop off to grab a coffee at a cafe? Can they decide they're going to work from home for the afternoon to do their notes? Do they have superiors breathing down their neck?

Percentage wise how much is client based work and how much paper work on a daily basis? What would be the maximum number of clients they would see in a day?

Why are you asking these questions? And what type of social workers do you have in mind?

Curiosity, just generally.

I can only speak for adult care, not child care, and it will also depend on work culture, so: yes, you organise your own diary but some standing meetings outside your control, duty rota etc. But I arrange my own visits. I can stop to pick up a coffee if not too busy. I'm wfh more now, but previously would occasionally write notes at home, if manager ok with this. Managers will check my online calendar and some will breathe down neck more than others. Too much paperwork, approx 70 per cent to 30 per cent service user contact. Max 2 - 3 service users a day depending on distance, but usually less as write ups take a long time.

I am not a SW but I work alongside them on a daily basis. I absolutely take my hat off to them. They work long hours for not much pay (a SW team manager earns in the region of £44k which is not commensurate with the responsibility IMO).

Those in My LA are office-based some of the week with time to do their reports from home. Lots of home visits. Their caseloads are high and there is a lot of paperwork to complete. Also a lot of travel if a child on their caseload is moved to another area (we have children placed 4 hours away).

They probably could grab a coffee in between visits but I very much doubt they would have time to sit in a cafe and drink it.

I’m a SW in a children’s safeguarding team. Work either from office or home, if I have a lot of admin or court work would WFH to concentrate. There are team meetings and duty days we are expected to be in to deal with any emergencies. My diary is set by me and my families I’m working with and their availability. Would visit max 4-5 children in a day but usually 1 or 2. The write up after visits and meetings is most time consuming and probably around 60% of the work is writing up, assessments and reports. Managers are in touch daily run down of which visits are out of date or due asap.

Entirely depends on what type of social work and what relationship they have with their manager.

I'm a social worker with adults. Most of my appointments are face to face in people's own homes or residential care homes and most of my meetings take place on Microsoft teams.

I probably have 2 - 3 meetings on teams a day and most of those I don't have a huge amount of choice over when they are as they are arranged to fit round other attendees or are scheduled for the same time each day/ week. Our admin team have access to our calendars and will put these meetings in on our behalf if it's a meeting I've asked them to arrange for me (about 75% of them).

I then fit my face to face appointments in around these meetings however I like/ is needed.

These days post covid no one cares if I work from an office or at home as long as the work gets done.

No one cares what time I take my lunch, but the vast majority of the time I eat my lunch at my desk during a meeting with my camera off or typing up notes.

Yes I could stop for a coffee somewhere if I wanted on the odd occasion without it being an issue but would personally make back the time or take it out of my lunch break. it's not something I could imagine doing really though as I wouldn't normally have the time. Wouldn't be an issue going in to get a takeaway coffee.

sometimes I don't see any clients in person that week as it's all on teams/ over the phone. Sometimes I will see 2-3 people a day face to face all week. Just depends on the caseload at the time.

its more of a three way split between paperwork, direct work and meetings. Fairly equally I would say between them overall.

Varied enormously when I did this job, as others have said. Time to get a coffee? Hahaha NO. Ate meals at my desk and regularly worked 50 hour weeks.

Im sure some work very hard. Ours doesn’t. She visits her family and gets her nails done etc all in a working day. She also takes a huge amount of time off work sick. 40 percent of the year minimum.

Freedom in what sense? Yes it’s up to us to manage work but that doesn’t mean we ever have leisurely time. Every second is sucked up by something work related. Yes I mostly do case notes at home - at about 8pm at night after my kids are in bed. Grabbing a coffee - oh I laughed at that.

There are so many different types of social workers and areas they work in, so experience may vary a lot. In general, social workers are super busy going from one place to the next, in the office having clients all day, having to fit in emergencies. You can get coffee at the cafe in your lunch break but it can be stressful work and requires a lot of flexibility.

You can't say how many clients you'd see in a day. If you're running a group for two hours you might see many. If you're doing face to face all day you'd see less.

Some work can be done at home but generally it can be best to be in the office because you might get people who drop in who need to see you.

The truth of this is all dependent on your specific work situation and field.

It depends where you are.
when I was in child protection I had a micro manager and had to account for every minute of every day, with no flexibility despite the fact it was expected of us.
Cafcass on the other hand - where I am at the moment - is much more flexible although the hours are still long. I can manage my own diary and have lunches etc when I can (court hearings aside) and work from home on reports and admin, but the payoff is that I work until quite late to ensure the work is completed. I often have to work weekends. In fact, I am busier now than I’ve ever been including in child protection.

Adult care Senior SW here. I like the autonomy in my role which is why after 20 years I haven't gone into management (yet). I organise my own calendar around (mostly) Teams meetings, have a lot of paperwork including typing up casenotes/answering emails/recording assessment/reviews/casenotes. Visits happen on average 1 or 2 times a week for me, I tend to have a caseload of around 18 and my cases are fairly complex ... safeguarding/mental capacity issues/legal work. I also have a student on a 6 month placement every other year who I supervise. I usually have about 2 or 3 legal cases (Court of Protection) on the go which require me to write lengthy statements and attend hearings.
I can get coffee whenever I like but have to manage my time fairly carefully. In terms of having a lunch break or not, skipping a 30 minute break that keeps me sane does not bring me any closer to "finishing" my work. I'm probably less productive having not taken a break. I log in at 9, log off at 5 unless it is an emergency. I work from home 2/3 days per week. Office 2 days.
I love my job but it's hard work. Happy to answer any more queries about the job.

i used to work as the only non social worker in an adult mental health social care team. It was as you describe. Manager was a legend. We were flexi, I did client meetings could be on zoom etc and could do notes from home. Supported living, patient visits and care home had to be in person. It very much depends on area and culture

Child protection absolutely not.

Sorry I had to ask, was slightly suspicious this was going to be a SW bashing thread.

I'm now in a strategic role, but when I was a frontline social worker with older people it was pre Covid, so all meetings were face to face. There was time occasionally to have a proper lunch break, but most of the time I ate lunch at my desk or in my car between visits.

I did work long hours, but loved working with people. I miss not having a caseload sometimes.

Different teams have different cultures. A lot of how flexible it is depends on your manager. I've been very lucky and have mostly had good managers.

I left being a children’s social worker when I was working ridiculous amounts of overtime for no extra pay or time off in lieu. Yes, there’s flexibility and you can manage your diary. But you will also be working well over your paid hours most days

Adult care disability Senior social worker here.

If you're asking about work life balance, and how much autonomy you get to plan in 'lovely' days with a small bit of downtime during the day, I'd say SW isn't for you, as those are the wrong questions.

And they don't reflect the reality of working with crisis after crises in vulnerable peoples complex lives and needs. Ans court case work... and reports due, funding to chase, other to supervise or guide,..,

It's a vocation career, not a job and you genuinely need to have a high level of resilience, ability to look up legislation latest guidance or sept procedures which change. wisdom, commitment and community mindedness in order to thrive as a SW. if you don't like change and responding quickly, then it's not a role you'll want.

The right questions are - can you be a team player, problem solve, respect others, can you listen to what is said or not said, and ... and ... a hundred other questions that are more relevant (than can I stop at Costa's cafe on my way to a visit ? As the answer to that will generally be yes if you want to be late as more likely you won't have time unless you're a a student SW on placement or have planned it in weeks ahead for your lunch break you rarely take in full...)

This is a good take.

Not to mention that if you go to court or other formal meetings, often you are told when they are and expected to be there. You don't get to set the timetable. If you're part-time and it's not on your rostered day, you have to adjust your work hours to make sure you're there.

I would love to work in this type of industry any advice on how to get into this type of work ? Would love to work in adult mental health not necessarily as a social worker but in a supportive role?

Do a qualifying degree.

I’m a student on final placement. I’m currently juggling university assignments, including dissertation and a caseload of about 8 on my placement in a children and family team. I was covering duty the past couple of days and didn’t have time to get anything to eat all day, both days. So far during my 4 months there I’ve been able to go to the local Lidl or sandwich shop for a quick bite most days as I make sure I take the time. I mostly manage my own diary, barring any meetings set by my supervisor. There’s a lot of autonomy. I work from home 2 days, office 2 days and one day uni. They’ve been very flexible with childcare and personal circumstances and not just because I’m a student, it’s a nice, understanding, flexible but very hardworking team.

There’s a lot of paperwork but most of the people in my team take one day at home every week to do their admin. The other days they do their CO visits, meetings and hearings. Only if an emergency crops up do they work over their hours. It’s a small locality so their caseload is maybe not as high as the neighbouring local authority which covers a much larger area.

Currently I am very stressed but I’m enjoying my placement immensely. I enjoy working with people and the nature of the job. I imagine it’s like any job, a good team and a good manager are key to enjoying it. It’s definitely a vocation though, there’s no big bucks to be made.

I previously worked as a support worker for a mental health charity. No degree necessary. Also very rewarding work. If they paid more than NMW, I would have stayed there forever. There are probably mental health charities in your area crying out for staff.