AN emergency meeting for city council social workers has been called for today to address pending cuts which union bosses have warned will send their service into "meltdown".
Unison has arranged the meeting in reaction to a proposed reorganisation of the children and families social work department.
While the local authority said the proposals, which have been put out to consultation, would result in a more efficient d
epartment providing an identical service, the union hit out at the proposals.
Unison's Edinburgh branch service conditions officer, Tom Connolly, said the proposals would see the number of frontline team leaders responsible for child protection halved.
He said: "These frontline staff are the people who have held the service together, often despite the council, and certainly without the resources to do the job.
"Without them, the service could face meltdown.
"The council has told the public it is putting more resources in, while in reality it hasn't backed it up with the cash."
Unison said the cuts were being tabled because there wasn't enough money to cover the existing 143 frontline social workers in the Capital, who handle around 4000 cases involving child protection.
"On top of this, two recent inspections point to not enough cases being allocated and not enough resources to protect children," Mr Connolly added. "Instead of addressing the resources, the council is increasing demands on staff. Many of our members feel things are getting worse than ever and more risky than they have ever been.
"The inspections criticised a lack of early intervention, so, astonishingly, the council cut the early intervention services in Working Together. The council's response is totally divorced from the reality on the ground."
In an attempt to calm the situation, vice convener of children and families, Councillor David Beckett, said the council was keen to hear responses from across the board.
He said: "It is only a proposal at this stage and we want to hear what Unison – and anyone else - have to say. Then we can decide what tack to take.
"What we are aiming to do is provide the same service in a more organised, more efficient fashion and reduce wastage."
Under the plans the city's 11 social work centres would be reduced to six. But Unison's Edinburgh branch secretary Agnes Petkevicius said the council had a guideline of 19 children per social worker and, on recommendations following the Victoria Climbie Inquiry had promised to reduce the workload to 14 children.
"The reality is that, since then, caseloads have gone up with staff carrying well over 20 cases. Now they want them to carry even more. The council seems determined not to learn from inquiries or inspections," she said.
At today's meeting Unison is consulting members on a formal response and has not ruled out industrial action.
The full article contains 473 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
