People in social work jobs across the UK will be able to gauge their employers performance under plans laid out by the Social Work Task Force.

The taskforce has said that it expects local leaders, directors to reconnect with "the realities of frontline practice". To encourage this, it advocates that social care employees are allowed to give their own input into the 'health check' on social work caseloads it has recommended for employers in the UK.

Employers would be required to carry out regular assessments of their performance, and make the results publicly available. They would also be required to set out plans for their own improvement as well as that of social workers.

The final recommendations of the taskforce have established several national standards for social work employers to follow. This will cover caseload management, levels of team and individual supervision, performance of IT systems and administration, staffing level management and their access to research and information resources.

Helga Pile, Unison's national officer for social workers, welcomed the report.

"Councils must be ready to be open and honest and lift the lid on the scale of the pressures in their social work teams" she said. "That means working with staff and unions to do the 'health check' that the taskforce recommends."
"We want action, but we don't need government hit squads naming and shaming councils before they have had the chance to put things right".