Pros
They paid professional fees Sick pay
Cons
High unmanageable case loads. Suggested support by management - but they were never actually there to support. This felt a bit like lip service. High sickness in the teams which was unmanageable - as people would have to cover to the point it was dangerous practice due to managerial sickness, and senior sickness. This would be a knock on effect of people being sick due to stress and physical impact of working on such complex high case loads. Unqualified workers would basically be triaging duty with safeguarding decisions, A manager would possibly look at this 1-2 a week on a very good week. All working from home. No face to face time with colleagues - which for this type of work is essential. When I started in social work 17 years ago - we had 2 managers 2 senior pracs and a wholes team covering a borough. You now have 1 manager, 1 senior and a small team covering the whole north of the county. Scary times for social work. and not being supported by social work England. This is why I had to leave. I was not offered an exit interview. we just had a brief chat where she was like - Oh I am poorly, - nothing. Managers are used more for savings and strategic operations - not the actual managing of staff and their area. No career progression - unless you want no more money and more responsibility.