“There’s always a manager around, and they will always support you,” says Katy Sweeny, an experienced member of Barking and Dagenham’s care management team. “You can go to anyone and they’re willing to help.”
It’s feedback the children’s care and support department is proud to receive regularly, according to director of operations Ann Graham. “What they mean is that they find their managers approachable, available, supportive of their work, and supportive of them – and this helps them do their work well. They’re not looking over their shoulders feeling that they’re going to get a bad response from their managers,” she says.
Caseloads have been brought down, giving social workers the space to do good and lasting work with families, and the aim is to reduce them further to an average of 15 per social worker. Meanwhile, increased management capacity means managers know the cases in their team and can anticipate issues their staff may encounter.
Sweeny, who’s been a social worker for three-and-a-half years and has been at Barking and Dagenham since she was a student, likes the fact her manager gives her all the feedback she needs, but ensures she feels in control of her cases.
“Daily, probably, I sit down with my manager and we go through at least two or three of my cases,” she explains. “He takes on everything that you say as a valid point even if he may have a different opinion and then we’ll discuss it.” When plans for a family have to change because the circumstances have changed, he takes on board what she tells him. “It makes you feel quite powerful in your cases,” Sweeny says.
For Anthony Elston-Smith, who was in care as a child, the experience of working with one of the senior managers at Barking and Dagenham when she was a team manager and he was a student 10 years ago was a key factor in his decision to return to the borough last year.
“She was amazing,” says the senior social worker in the multi-agency safeguarding hub. “She was really balanced, calm and collected, and very knowledgable. In social work there are so many challenges that to have people like her around is invaluable.”
He’s been impressed by the way the managers have handled his dyslexia, by the supervision he receives each month without fail – however busy he is – and by the training on offer, which has included sessions on witchcraft and a programme on attachment and relationship-based practice with the University of Kent’s Professor David Shemmings. “Because the area has so many challenges the training is a bit more diverse,” he says. “It’s responsive to the needs of the community.”
Staff speak particularly highly of the work the borough is doing with Shemmings and Rosie 2, his simulation of a social work visit, Graham says. “Rosie 2 is useful for team discussions about how you prepare to go into a family, what you see in a family setting, and how you deal with those difficult scenarios. Social workers say that in those rich, group support sessions it really does build your confidence.”
As a senior team manager in the leaving care service for the last seven years, Noel Heron has appreciated being given the chance to innovate in his role, without bureaucratic barriers being put in his way.
“There’s a lot of scope to implement new things for young people within the service ... people do listen and you can make successful changes,” he says. “The other thing that for me was the most important was that I wouldn’t just be stuck in an office... doing 10 tonnes of paperwork. The fact that I’m able to manage my time and I can still do that face-to-face work with young people is what makes this job most appealing.”
Barking and Dagenham offers competitive salaries, a £2,500 recruitment payment and an annual £2,500 retention payment, based on performance. For those who want to live and work in the borough, there’s also the opportunity to rent a brand new home for 20% less than the market rate – a monthly saving of around £240 for a four bedroom house and £140 for a two bedroom flat.
Other benefits include a cycle purchase scheme (keen cyclist Elston-Smith also notes the showers and the decent place to lock his bike), and discounted parking and gym membership.
“There’s so much to learn here, because there’s such a diverse community,” says Sweeny. “You get so many opportunities. I like the support and the experience I’m getting; that’s what matters to me.”
For more information about working in social care in Barking and Dagenham, click here.
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