Social Work

• Carried out a social care assessment following an individual getting in touch after experiencing an injury following a fall
• Discussed what was important to individual to understand that he wished to regain his independence and confidence, as well as a little help while his hip recovered
• Introduced reablement support to encourage mobility as well as connecting with other services in the local area to help with this
• Introduced care link equipment to enable urgent support to be accessed in the future, if required
• Completed review following reablement support and individual had regained independence and felt confident enough to reconnect with the community and attend social groups

• John’s friend Alice usually completes shopping for him, and has for over a year due to John’s mobility issues and this causing anxiety in supermarkets
• Over the last month, Alice has been buying cheaper alternatives instead of the branded products that John enjoys and still requests the same amount of money
• Alice uses the excuse that the price has increased; however, John has had a supermarket pamphlet through which has made him question the true cost of the groceries

• John asks to see the receipt and Alice comes up with several different reasons as to why she no longer has the receipt
• A month later, a receipt is left in the bag, which shows that cosmetics and a few other items that John did not ask for were bought, but not amongst the shopping he received. John could also see that there had been some buy one get one free offers, but he only had got one of each item that he had asked for and that the amount he had paid was more than the total receipt worth, even with all of the extras John didn’t receive

• John doesn’t know what to do, but tells his daughter who then calls us for advice. A Safeguarding representative makes contact and arranges a visit to discuss his concerns. John says that he doesn’t want a fuss, but he doesn’t want Alice to do his shopping any more
• Subsequently, John decided to ask his daughter to do online shopping for him instead, which his daughter agrees to
• John says he does want to stay friends with Alice, as he likes her company. John tells Alice that his daughter is picking his shopping up when she gets hers from now on and she accepts this.

If you think you or someone you know is at risk of abuse or neglect, you can get help and advice by calling the Single Point of Access (SPA) on 01472 256256 (option 2).  (If a crime is in progress, or you or someone else is in danger or needs emergency medical treatment, you should contact the emergency services by dialling 999). 

For more information about Safeguarding, visit our Social Care Handbook or visit the North East Lincolnshire Council website. Details about the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) can be found at SaferNEL.

The Council are committed to working with carers and partners to make North East Lincolnshire a healthy and vibrant place for carers to live, learn and work. To find out more about North East Lincolnshire Council’s vision for Carers please refer to the North East Lincolnshire Carers’ Strategy 2023-2026.

Hello, my name is John Allen and I am the principal Social Worker for adults in North East Lincolnshire. I have worked in the social care sector since 2005 in a wide range of services, in both statutory and voluntary roles.

The role of principal social worker was established as part of the Care Act 2014. The Act states that all local authorities must have a Principal Social Worker to represent the social work and social care work force, and the communities that those professionals support.

The Principal social worker has a key part to play in quality assurance and practice governance in all areas of social work and social care practice across the system. This means to ensure practice is the best that it can be for its community, and where there are areas that don’t meet expected standards, a plan is made to improve or develop practice.

Supporting and progressing professional development of the social work and social care staff group ensures that we have a work force in North East Lincolnshire that has the right skills, knowledge and tools to be able to support the community in the right way, at the right time, with the right resources. While bringing research and best practice to the fore  as well as ensuring that contemporary policies, guidance, rights based care and the law inform the work that we do as system.

The PSW also has a responsibility to ensure that social workers are registered with social work England and as part of this continue to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. To do this, we have learning and training events through the year, as well as projects, working groups and information shared across the workforce.

The principal social worker must ensure that practitioners work to a strengths based model and apply the practice framework, understanding the skills and strengths of individuals to enable them to control decisions about them, and be considered the expert in their own situation.

To ensure that North East Lincolnshire is represented nationally and benefits from the latest research, ideas and developments to practice, the principal social worker is part of a national network of principal social workers that enables support,  innovation and resources to be shared to get the best outcomes for our communities and our workforce.

Working in partnership across the system to ensure that there is consistency in the work that we do. Working jointly with partners and practitioners across focus, care plus group, navigo, the voluntary sector and the council brings cohesion across the system. This allows for sharing of best practice locally and making sure we are all working towards the same goals and outcomes.