Working with risk

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Social work is based on transformational interpersonal relationships which means social workers are well placed to work alongside people who use care and support to enable positive risk taking. The international definition of social work references the need for social workers to understand, assess, balance and work with risks.

The social work capabilities within the international definition are embedded at all experience levels within the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF).

The College of Social Work advice notes, roles and functions of social workers in England and social work in mental health settings provide examples of safeguarding and risk management situations in which social workers should be the lead professional. Also the Care Act guidance highlights social workers as having a key role in adult safeguarding, planning and reviews for people who lack capacity. 

For personalised risk management and safeguarding to be realised, it is important that practitioners have a real sense of ownership and are able to take calculated risks in their thinking.

Learning to live with risk identifies the dual aspects of risk, which need to be addressed if employers are going to be able to create an operational environment that is as safe and conducive.

The pursuit of an organisational culture that supports staff is central to the development of practitioner confidence in sharing responsibility for risk. For this to happen a whole system approach towards a “no-blame” culture and a positive learning environment is needed.

This can be achieved by:

Practitioner confidence is further supported by organisational commitments to the following:

  • Shared decision making.
  • The Standards for employers provide guidance on the conditions needed to support social workers as autonomous professionals.
  • The ASYE which provides a platform for NQSWs to embed a critically reflective approach to the supervisory process throughout their professional career.
  • Clarity of procedure for recording. Even though they work in a person-centred way, social workers still need to use their professional judgement and record their views, especially when they are at odds with those supporting the person in need of care and support and recording systems will support them to do this. This is especially important in safeguarding cases where people in need of care and support choose to make a decision which the social worker feels is not in their best interest. 

The development of an evidenced based approach to risk assessment and management is an important strategy in enabling social workers to balance the management of risk with innovative and personalised practice.

Further advice and guidance is available here:

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