Who governs the governing body?

This blog is not written as an attempt at vindication or as a plea for absolution... and it should have been posted earlier but the last few weeks have brought some dramatic changes.

And, hopefully, these changes will help those employed in social services in Scotland if they find their fitness to practise under investigation.

The first of these is the appointment of Alexandra Graham Campbell as convener of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). A qualified social worker who has also worked in the health sector, she joins the Non Departmental Public Body in September with 40 years' experience in the public sector. Ms Campbell is well qualified to lead the SSSC into a new era and will, hopefully, at least look at some of the issues I'll be raising here.

The other change is one that could have a major impact. In July the SSSC announced that the Fife Law Centre would be offering free legal advice and representation to registered workers living in Fife whose fitness to practise is under investigation.

The Law Centre, a charity founded in 2008, will, according to reports, take on cases that fall into the category of "unmet legal need".

No doubt there will be terms and conditions but this initiative could be a game changer for Fife registrants. I only wish I could have turned to it a year or so ago.

And, I suppose, that brings me... to me.

I am, at least officially, a disgraced social worker, labelled with that stigma of being "struck off". I failed to perform three actions, and did one thing I should not have. My mitigation was that I was on the point of burn-out and breakdown. I worked for a charity and had eight line managers within 10 years, and five chief executives. I had roles, duties and expectations thrust on me, and changed repeatedly with unrelenting criticism. Outside of work I had to deal with the deaths of my father, my mother and then my younger brother. Eventually, feeling constantly harassed and intimidated at work, I couldn't take it any more, leaving the office without completing the admin' on an active case.

So, did I deserve to be struck off? If that is the consistent 'sentence' for the offence, then yes. And I never sought to appeal that.

What was harder to deal with was, having insisted on going to hearing, my failures delivered me into the jaws of the Scottish Social Services Council which shredded my reputation and career, then spat me out to personal and public humiliation.

My mitigating circumstances were unanimously declared a fabric of lies. Without any of my previous bosses in the charity being contacted, or my decades of previous experience examined, my final two line managers, whom I had cited, together portrayed me as a very poor social worker, who was more focused on business plans and securing funding than being interested in the children and families we worked with. And, as that career manager, I wasn't very good at that either.

My working environment, contrary as to how I saw it, was portrayed as a haven of support, empathy and openness where every single person was treated exactly the same, though whether that was equally or fairly was never queried by the SSSC.

And the service users were always, without exception, the priority, everything else - every spreadsheet, funding application, every report - was secondary to that. Everyone knew that... except me.

To underline that management compassion, my final line manager confessed to the panel that she did wonder just before I went off with stress if all was not well with me.

So with no representation, no witnesses to support me, no past managers to defend me, my misconduct was correlated to a number of medical cases, all but one involving the deaths of children... and then came the damning psychological profile of showing no insight into my actions.

I was a danger to the public, and I was removed from the SSSC register.

So, it may come as a surprise, perhaps especially to those within the Scottish Social Services Council who must surely view me now as an irritating pest, that I believe a governing body for the profession is absolutely vital.

There have been cases reported recently where those entrusted with the care and support of others have abused that responsibility and have deservedly been brought to account with the courts administering justice.

That is how it should be but every case investigated by our governing body must be done thoroughly and fairly.

Resource is not an argument. If there is neither the time nor the manpower, because of the budget, then that needs to be flagged. The responsibility of the SSSC is so great, with careers and, literally, lives at stake, the process must aspire to be faultless, flawless, transparent and completely comprehensive.

What is concerning is, on the surface, these ambitious and inevitably unachievable goals apparently have been attained publicly and are claimed to be maintained. Very few of the questions I raised, and none of the complaints I have lodged about the SSSC processes have been granted any validity.

However, this blog is not to prove I am right and the SSSC is wrong. Its purpose is to show registrants what can happen to you in the fitness to practise process, and in its aftermath.

And if there is a message, or perhaps it is a warning, I can give, that is to assess the pressure you are under. Examine every single aspect of your workload, down to the smallest detail, and if you are giving anything less than 100 per cent to service users, whatever the reason, you need to go to your line manager, or higher, and make sure your concerns are on the record, along with your demands for them to be addressed.

This may seem easier said than done, but you need to do it. Trust me!

The SSSC does not understand the specific intricacies of your job, though it claims to. It can’t. The social services profession is diverse; procedures and processes vary from field to field and across private, public and charitable sectors. Social work trained SSSC staff are in the minority, and if you are investigated it will probably be by a solicitor. He may emerge as an expert in coronary surgery, in gynaecology and psychology, but his knowledge of social work practice is likely to be limited.

But the one criterion the SSSC does demand from its registrants is that the care and support of the service user is total. That is 100 per cent. Nothing less.

There is no account taken of that spreadsheet, business plan, funding proposal, restructuring, relocation or any of that mountain of paperwork with a bright red deadline on it. If a service user's welfare is anything less than 100 per cent - despite your best efforts in the face of all that then you will be judged to have failed.

And don’t be too critical of the SSSC on that. It will take a very special boss to come to your defence and admit management was creating the pressures that weakened your total commitment.

Every single one will stand before the SSSC, or whatever your governing body is, and say management always puts service users first and your failings, were yours... and yours alone.

Be prepared for that. You need to join the union, or join a professional organisation, ensure you have protection and use that security to speak up and have your concerns minuted and on the record. It is a small price to pay compared to losing your income during a two-year investigation, then your career, then your reputation… professionally and personally. If you struggle on bravely through an increasing workload but trip, your struggle will be an irrelevance and the focus only on your fall.

In many ways I was lucky. I had been a social worker for 28 years before I tumbled from grace.

Retirement was not that far away. While I was never a shining star in the social care firmament I felt proud of much of my work, I had many memories of people and events I cherished, and some I didn’t. 

Given my age and stage, my own children were up and grown, I had a roof over my head, food on the table and the support of family and good friends. Some of those who have endured an SSSC investigation, and some of those who will in future are less fortunate, and believe me you need all the support you can get over the two-plus years the process takes... and the aftermath.

In my research for this blog I learned that between 2013 and September 2018, a total of 23 people have died while under SSSC investigation. Of course given the time an investigation takes perhaps that's not surprising. But I do know that a long investigative shadow over you doesn't make your journey through life any easier. 

That's why fairness, transparency and thoroughness are vital - no matter the weight it places on the investigators. And we should never underestimate the power this non-government organisation holds. I spoke to a TV journalist who told me that during her research for a programme about child protection in Scotland the SSSC was often mentioned, but people didn’t want to go on record. The seed for this blog was probably planted there.

There was another development which meant I had to put this blog on hold for a few weeks. I’m glad I did because it completed the jigsaw and brought me full circle.

Having had my complaints dismissed by the SSSC and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) rejecting my referral to her as they did not come within the SPSO parameters, my tale was essentially at an end, other than sharing my experience on this blog.

However, there was one issue which surfaced again - the gender balance of the SSSC hearing panels. There’s much more of that to come but the SPSO advised I raise this with an elected representative, which I duly did.

That was a couple of months ago and the issue went from my MSP to the Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd MSP, and then on to Scotland’s Chief Social Work Adviser, Iona Colvin.

None was able to provide the information I sought with all directing me to raise my concerns with the SSSC, and, if I still wasn’t happy, then I could go the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman…

So the circle was completed – SSSC to Ombudsman to Government to SSSC to Ombudsman, and so on.

In the posts that follow, there are dozens and dozens of questions. I hope you see my rationale for asking them and that colleagues in my profession see their validity.

But the overriding one is ‘Who governs the governing body?’

Next: https://ssscandme.blogspot.com/2019/08/actions-and-reactions.html

Picture: David Bruyland