Introduction

The majority of the Care Act 2014 came into effect in April 2015. Social work or social workers are mentioned 70 times in the Care Act guidance. We have an important role in delivering and in providing professional support for a range of duties including: first contact, complex assessments, care and support planning, assessing capacity, advocacy and safeguarding.

Just over one year on from the implementation of the majority of the Act it is important to understand what difference it has made to social work practice, what has worked well, or worked poorly and which areas most need to be strengthened. It is also important to get an understanding of the context in which people are working, which includes resources or lack of them and the impact of other Government reforms. We have left space for people to comment throughout the survey on the reality of practice for you, so please add your comments so we know what is important to you.

Some evaluation and research is already being undertaken or planned, for example the Local Government Association stocktakes with Directors in adult services, a National Audit Office report and some research by "In Control". None of these have looked specifically at the social work role in implementation. It is important to understand what difference the Care Act is making to social work practice and what practitioners' experiences of implementation are.
We want to use this questionaire not only to capture a snap shot of experiences, but to inform further levels of analysis. The next stage will be to undertake some more in depth face to face or telephone interviews. We are hoping that you will agree to participate further. You can sign up to be on the contact list for more in depth work by emailing the subject 'Care Act Survey’ to england@basw.co.uk. We will be using the overall findings for a number of purposes,including:
a) to inform the sector and Government b) to share learning c) to campaign about issues that emerge from the research.
The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. Your responses will be fully confidential. Please complete by June 21st. 2016

Thank you. Joe Godden, Professional Officer, on behalf of the BASW England Social Work with Adults Reference Group.

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* 1. Which categories best describe you?

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* 2. Are you a BASW member?

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* 3. Please say whether you agree or disagree with the statement: "The Care Act means I have been able to more effectively help people with care and support needs to achieve their desired outcomes”.

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* 4. Please say whether you agree or disagree with the statement: "The Care Act has helped me improve my practice".

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* 5. Please say whether you agree / disagree with the statement: "In my experience the Care Act has led to an improvement of people's wellbeing?"

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* 6. In your opinion are there aspects of the Care Act have enabled you to improve social work practice?

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* 7. In your opinion are there aspects of the Care Act that have been detrimental to social work practice?

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* 8. What areas of practice do you think need development under the Care Act, in particular what sections of the Care Act  do you find are the most challenging to implement or are not being satisfactorily implemented in your workplace?

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* 9. If you feel that there are areas of your practice that need development what would help? (These options have been taken from the Employer Standards). Please tick all areas that you feel would help.

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* 10. My employer has provided a broad range of training opportunities about the Care Act which has enabled me to feel confident in my role to undertake assessments in line with the legislation.

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* 11. What has helped you to date to develop your practice? Please tick all that apply

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* 12. Please say whether you agree/ disagree with the statement:"In my organisation, the eligibility criteria are supporting people to receive appropriate care and support to meet desired outcomes"

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* 13. Please say whether you agree/ disagree with the statement:"In my organisation, the aims of preventing, reducing and delaying needs for care and support are being achieved".

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* 14. Please say whether you agree / disagree with the statement: "In my organisation the aims of the Care Act to provide good advice and information are being achieved."

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* 15. Please say whether you agree or disagree with the statement: "In my organisation the aims of making safeguarding personal are being achieved".

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* 16. Thank you very much for completing this survey, your views are important and will be used to inform BASW policy and practice and to provide evidence to employers and policy makers about the real experiences of social workers. You can add any final points in the box below. If you would like to be contacted to have a further discussion please leave your e mail address below or e mail england@basw.co.uk with the title of the e mail stating: "Care Act Survey".

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