Warren Belcher

My new blog “When Social Work Stops Being Understood” 👇 ermate.wordpress.com/2026/02/14/whe…

@SamuraiWorker I’m so sick of social work trying and failing to get anywhere near real strategic change.

@ermate Well if you weld yourself so firmly to a medical model of mental ill health then you completely eradicate any concept of social or environmental factors as having a role. How many times do you hear that a person does not have a treatable mental illness. Treatable with what?

Oh dear what a surprise. The DHSC has zero clue about social work. I’m sure the chief social worker will have somthing to say about this when we work out who they actually are 👇

Absolutely dreading the next few weeks and what will drop regarding 2026 service charges as well as the repeated sec 20 notices which can’t even get the date right. I’m almost 50 and living like this is absolutely ridiculous !

@PoseidonOilRig LGPS isn’t ‘too generous’. It’s funded, it invests its assets, members and employers pay in, and investment returns do all the heavy lifting.

@ermate @premnsikka LGPS pensions shouldn't be so generous then.

Adult social care privatised since the 1980s. Local councils spend 70% of budget on it. 83% of social care controlled by private equity, 20%-40% profit margin. Will Govt end profiteering, ensure only not-for-profit entities provide care. Watch Minister's reply.

Well, Local Government Reorganisation is going to be an absolute delight over the next few years. Hold onto your hats…😬👇

@ermate @premnsikka I completely agree with you ! Perhaps send in your thoughts to the Casey commission

I love seeing you on X still Lyn🤩 I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘Casey’ and I may add my ten pence’ worth.! My early thoughts last week after her speech were… Dame Louise Casey’s speech today put adult social care back in the spotlight, but it raises some big questions about how the debate is being framed. The Care Act 2014 already gives us a clear legal framework for wellbeing, prevention, safeguarding and market‑shaping. So why do we keep talking as if the system has no direction? Safeguarding failures are tragic, but Section 42 duties and Safeguarding Adults Boards already exist. So is the issue really a lack of national attention, or a failure to deliver the duties we already have? If the current framework isn’t being implemented, what exactly would a new national safeguarding board fix? The focus on motor neurone disease is important and welcome. But adult social care supports people with a huge range of complex and long‑term conditions. So why does the national debate keep narrowing itself to a small number of examples instead of recognising the full breadth of need? Dane Casey was absolutely right about the treatment of carers. Paid care workers are undervalued and exhausted family carers are holding up a system that would collapse without them. Yet Carer’s Allowance remains one of the most inadequate benefits in the UK. So how long can we keep relying on families to absorb the pressure instead of reforming the support they receive? And what about Part 2 of the Care Act? Parliament passed the cap on care costs and fairer charging. Government chose not to implement it. Families and individuals still face catastrophic care costs because of that decision. So why isn’t this being acknowledged as one of the biggest failures in adult social care policy? ADASS’s your response also raises questions. As statutory leaders, why do you speak as if you’re observing the challenge rather than responsible for delivering the law designed to prevent it? We’ve had reviews, commissions, visions and tsars. The real issue is that the law we already have isn’t being implemented. The Care Act is clear. The question now is whether national and local leaders are prepared admit political failures are at the heart of it all!

National policymakers are “working it out as they go along”, and @NHSEngland integrated care board staff are “on their knees” amid a confused restructure, local leaders have reported: A @HealthFdn report based on interviews with integrated care board leaders throughout last year, shared exclusively w/ @HSJnews , found they were “scathing” about the “handling and subsequent management” of the announcement of 50 per cent cuts to staffing budgets via @mimilaunder hsj.co.uk/integrated-car…

The lack of a proper LD nurse training plan has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. LD nurses are special people and their skill passion and expertise is greatly needed. Some universities can no longer train because of sustainability. Personally I think it’s tragic.

Yes Roy! LD nursing has fallen off a cliff edge. The naivety of leaving all things to local action smacks of a lack of care. We should judge a health system by how it treats its minorities. We doubled MH nurse trainees. Do it for LD. Now.

@ClaireCNWL We cannot afford this role to disappear. It must not only be protected but properly invested in. Very few roles bring so much real, measurable impact to people’s lives in my experience and more importantly this is what people tell me.

I hate the dialogue about autism and personality disorders at the moment. There are so many cruel people on this ap who have no self-awareness and say the most hateful things. Solidarity to anyone living with autism or a dx of personality disorder. It must be a frightening time.

Solid this. I admire Neil Crowther very much. The problem isn’t the public, it’s the story ‘social care’ keeps telling them! 👇👇👇

On 16 March at 3pm, I’ll be joined by esteemed (and more knowledgeable) experts by profession and experience to talk about forensic social work and what it offers to humane forensic services as part of #socialworkweek with @SocialWorkEng Join me eventbrite.co.uk/e/rights-risk-…

Dame Louise Casey’s speech today put adult social care back in the spotlight, but it raises some big questions about how the debate is being framed. The Care Act 2014 already gives us a clear legal framework for wellbeing, prevention, safeguarding and market‑shaping. So why do we keep talking as if the system has no direction? Safeguarding failures are tragic, but Section 42 duties and Safeguarding Adults Boards already exist. So is the issue really a lack of national attention, or a failure to deliver the duties we already have? If the current framework isn’t being implemented, what exactly would a new national safeguarding board fix? The focus on motor neurone disease is important and welcome. But adult social care supports people with a huge range of complex and long‑term conditions. So why does the national debate keep narrowing itself to a small number of examples instead of recognising the full breadth of need? Dane Casey was absolutely right about the treatment of carers. Paid care workers are undervalued and exhausted family carers are holding up a system that would collapse without them. Yet Carer’s Allowance remains one of the most inadequate benefits in the UK. So how long can we keep relying on families to absorb the pressure instead of reforming the support they receive? And what about Part 2 of the Care Act? Parliament passed the cap on care costs and fairer charging. Government chose not to implement it. Families and individuals still face catastrophic care costs because of that decision. So why isn’t this being acknowledged as one of the biggest failures in adult social care policy? ADASS’s your response also raises questions. As statutory leaders, why do you speak as if you’re observing the challenge rather than responsible for delivering the law designed to prevent it? We’ve had reviews, commissions, visions and tsars. The real issue is that the law we already have isn’t being implemented. The Care Act is clear. The question now is whether national and local leaders are prepared admit political failures are at the heart of it all!

@Giselle_ASCWs @1adass Potty mouths are likely more impactful than dreadful corporate consultancy guff. Maybe there is hope after all !

@1adass @ermate She also said “People in need of adult social care are sometimes being charged for “utter shite” Excerpt From “UK’s care sector blasted as ‘utter s****’ by inquiry chief” Rebecca Whittaker, Rebecca Thomas The Independent apple.news/Ap3obeOKhTlq-o…

Our President Jess McGregor responds to today's speech by Dame Louise Casey at the Nuffield Trust Summit. She says adult social care has been missing from the national debate for too long. Read more: adass.org.uk/adass-responds…

Why hasn’t social care reform stuck? Baroness Casey sets out what needs to change to meet today’s needs. #ntsummit