SOCIAL workers and those in Scotland’s wider social care sector are used to hearing of new professional “initiatives.”

They are constantly being told of new assessment tools, self-directed support and personalisation systems.

Politicians talk about “integration” and managers talk about “procurement strategies.”

What these workers experience is more work, a lack of resources, vacancies being left unfilled and budgets cut.

They are spending more time looking at computer screens rather than talking to service users and families. There are more service users to visit and fewer available places at day centres.

However they continue to receive the thanks of service users and families when providing care and support. The professionalism and dedication of these workers increases the quality of many people’s lives.

They diminish isolation, increase independence and make people feel a bit safer in their own home.

This mixed experience of a job that is still rewarding and a more frustrating working environment is shared by thousands of workers in the public, community and private sectors. 

However the balance that keeps people coming to work is increasingly tipping to the side of frustration rather than reward as council cuts, increasing demands and more complex working practices take their toll.

I have heard many reports of workers crying at their desk as the stress mounts, of home care workers being asked to do in half an hour what they previously did in an hour and of workers in all sectors being expected to cover someone else’s work when vacancies are not filled.

Unpaid overtime is increasingly common as workers try to meet deadlines and protect service users.

In an increasingly risk-averse and low-resource environment it is often the front-line social care worker who is under the spotlight when something goes wrong or when a family don’t think that they are getting the level of service they expect.

In response to this, Unison has relaunched its guide to working in social care, Keeping Yourself Safe in the Workplace.

It is an indictment against the sector’s workplaces that a union even has to produce such a booklet.

Practical advice in the guide includes how to building support among colleagues, demanding regular supervision and workload management and challenging employers to meet their requirements under the Scottish Social Services Council’s (SSSC) employers’ code of practice.

Of course, being a member of — and active in — your trade union is the most important advice for any worker but especially now for social care workers.

Unison now regularly provides representation and advice to members for regulatory investigations and hearings as well as the usual disciplinary, grievance and absence procedures.

We have provided legal representation to members called to answer allegations about their practice in court.

However social service workers need to do more than protect themselves at work. We need to raise our profile and demand the resources to be able to work safely and deliver an effective service.

The Scottish government recently launched its Vision for Social Care Services in Scotland. It sets out some aspirations for the future, including for the workforce.

Unison was pleased to see within it references to implementing our ethical home care charter, of achieving the living wage within the sector and of addressing effective workload management.

It is welcome that the SSSC’s code of practice for employers is to be reviewed, hopefully to give it more teeth to hold employers accountable when they don’t fulfil their obligations.

Achieving these fine aims is made even more difficult when the budget for services continues to be cut and when the prospective prime ministers from Tory and Labour parties promise more austerity.

Health boards are reporting weekly on bed-blocking difficulties and politicians who demand action continue to support cuts to budgets, including in social care.

We must defend the NHS.

Without the proper level of support for social care services, the NHS will collapse under the pressure of people being admitted to hospital who are then not able to leave, instead of being cared for at home.

There are more people — including more women and people with mental health problems — in prison than before and yet the social work staff that could facilitate safe and cheaper community sentences are stretched.

In last year’s referendum campaign Scotland screamed out for a fairer, more just country.

Social work and social care services are essential for such a future, where vulnerable people can live safely in the community, where children are protected and parents supported, where offenders can be rehabilitated rather than institutionalised, where disabled people and those with mental health problems can be supported to live independently.

I am pleased that my union will continue to fight — not only to protect our members but for the resources to allow them to provide better care and support.

• Stephen Smellie is chair of Unison Scotland’s social work issues group.