Important meetings for UNISON members in Children’s Social Care at Lambeth Council

Following the most recent inspection the Ofsted report is scheduled for publication on Wednesday 9^th May 2018.

We do not know the outcome and details of the report but we have indications that Lambeth have moved out of an ‘inadequate’ rating and there has therefore been some real progress on the improvement journey.

Unfortunately UNISON have also noticed a recent rise of Social Work staff being placed under formal capability procedures (sometimes without being informed they were already at the “informal” stage) but more alarmingly Social Work staff also being placed under “Disciplinary Investigation” for “Misconduct” issues linked to the same capability procedures and performance issues.

UNISON are clear that many Social Workers have often had high case-loads during a very difficult transitional period for Lambeth CSC, and so should not be penalised for so called ‘capability’ issues to do with their work and especially not threatened with disciplinary action for misconduct at the same time.

UNISON have raised this problem with senior management, who assure us that it’s not Lambeth’s official position to link capability to misconduct and probably just a local misinterpretation of the policies, but if your management raise capability issues with you or threaten you with a disciplinary investigation pertaining to capability/performance issues then please consult your Union immediately and we will intervene with senior management and HR to object.

If you would like to discuss the Ofsted report and Lambeth’s response as well as other Children’s Social Care issues, then please come to one of the following CSC UNISON meetings:

Thursday 10^th May 2018: Civic Centre (CC03 – 03) 1.00 – 2.00 PM

Thursday 17 May 2018: Civic Centre (CC05 -02) 1.00 – 2.00 PM

Agenda:

• Ofsted Report and our response to Lambeth’s response
• Workloads, Capability Procedures, Investigations for Misconduct
• Your New Town Hall and Civic Centre
• Health & Safety
• TUC Defend Public Services Demonstration 12^th May
• AOB