Driving and access to a car for being a social worker

[socialworkhopeful]

I have NCd for this as potentially outing. I am in my final year of university and I want to study for an MA in social work but going through either Frontline or Step Up. I obviously understand that for most places you need a car or at least a driving license for the job.

I have health conditions that would impact on my ability to drive safely, but do not affect me in other ways related to the role and I am safe to travel alone/use public transport.

Is it reasonable to request being placed in an LA in a large city (London for example) where a car is not required, and what reasonable adjustments would an LA be able to offer to enable someone who is unable to drive due to medical reasons to do their job?

This is my dream and I'm really anxious that I'm going to be rejected due to being unable to drive.

I'm not a social worker and know nothing about it but have you spoken to social workers about whether it is practical at all not to drive or have access to a car? Surely it's not just about being placed in a city with public transport - what happens on weekends, nights, if you are required to remove children from a family, if you are visiting an area where you feel unsafe walking from wherever the closest public transport is? Surely better to find our from current practitioners if this is practical, rather than wondering what adjustments can be made?

I worked in Adult services in London without being able to drive for a long time.

You have to be able to plan effectively and occasionally swallow the cost of a taxi but it isn't impossible!

unfortunate Thank you, yeh I do want to learn to drive and there are probably ways I can do that. But it requires that I be declared fit to drive which I'm not sure if I would be? I was hoping that posting here I might actually get replies from social workers, because I don't know many personally,

onelast Thank you! Yeh I'd be happy to use a taxi on occasion and am good at planning using public transport.

I guess I'm wondering if it's somewhat discriminatory to require someone has a car/can drive, because there are many people able to do the job and do it well who can't drive for whatever reason.

I've worked in two inner London Local Authorities and didn't use my car, in fact they encouraged the use of public transport (parking in both areas was problematic and both councils were combating air pollution too)

Outer London boroughs are a bit trickier as public transport doesn't tend to be as good and the boroughs can be bigger in size, which makes for longer travel between visits.

I know quite a few SW's who don't drive so I'd be surprised if it's an essential factor (although in outer boroughs is preferred)

Could you get away with not driving in a hospital social work job? Suppose it depends on area as my current area they do CHC assessments after hospital in care homes but in my old trust they didn't. Worth looking whether driving is essential?

Dolly Thank you! That's helpful, I was hoping to apply to a London LA.

Nerr I am predominantly looking at children and families social work, so not sure whether they work much in hospitals.

Also, apologies for London centric response. Hopefully someone from another city will be along soon to comment how it works in those areas. I'd imagine, generally speaking, it's more challenging without a car in places with less public transport / more rural communities

Dolly No problem, I like London and was hoping to work there anyway, purely for the public transport links

My manager used to get along okay in London as a SW without a car.

I'm a SW outside of London and we have a couple of non drivers in our team - it's generally a bit of a nightmare for them and they are expected to be passing their tests soon!

I often have to transport children and sometimes families and I frequently get home late as it is, I personally would not like to be waiting around for a bus at 6pm in December in a difficult area.

I think you could make it work but car drivers are definitely preferred and you have to consider how much it may impact on your work/life balance. The non-drivers in my team have less time in the office as their travelling takes a lot longer so they finish later and take more work home.