The Latest Bulletin

August 23, 2023

How to make a whistleblowing disclosure at work (in the UK)

By law (the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998), you can make a whistleblowing disclosure to one of the following:

  • your employer
  • a legal adviser
  • government ministers – this only applies if you work for a statutory body
  • another person who is responsible for the wrongdoing
  • a prescribed person or body
  • any other person or body if there’s a good reason to, or if it’s related to an ‘exceptionally serious failure’ – for example, the police or media

You must also make sure your disclosure is made with ‘reasonable belief’ and is:

  • a qualifying disclosure
  • in the public interest

When making a disclosure, it’s good practice to consider the list in order. But there might be cases when you do not want to go to your employer first.

You will have to meet more requirements if you make a disclosure to someone further down the list. The only exception to this is legal advisers, who you can speak to at any time.

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The Professional Social Worker: An essential text for all social workers

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August 2, 2023

Spotlight – Anti-racism for Beginners

There is no room for racism in a civilised society. The recent surge of interest in anti-racism is very much to be welcomed, but we have to guard against oversimplifying some complex and sensitive issues. This book, from the author of Anti-discriminatory Practice and Promoting Equality, provides an important foundation of learning that will be helpful for anyone committed to a genuinely anti-racist approach to practice.

Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon

Twitter: Follow Neil Thompson on Twitter

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August 2, 2023

Neil Thomspon’s Lessons for Living – Don’t rely on common sense

So-called ‘common sense’ is often not common (different people have different ideas about what is common sense) and not always sense (it is often contradictory). What counts as common sense can be important advice and wisdom built up over many years of experience. However, it can also, at times, be based on unquestioned prejudices and taken-for-granted assumptions. But, whether what counts as common sense is sound or not, what resorting to common sense amounts to is relying on preformed ideas instead of using reflective practice to think, plan, analyse and make sense of the situations we are dealing with. Someone saying: ‘It’s common sense’ is often inviting us to accept their perspective uncritically, rather than work out our own view on it.

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Ensuring every older person is treated with dignity as a unique individual

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August 2, 2023

Children’s Society – Children’s stories in their own words

When young people want to tell their story, we listen. We see something in every one of them. We see hope. Often their stories aren’t easy to tell, but they tell them. They know that opening up will help them feel better and show others, who have it just as tough, that there can be a brighter tomorrow.

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It’s all about people: visit Neil Thompson’s humansolutions website

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August 2, 2023

Burned out and stretched too thin: Tips to re-engage your team

It seems there are two types of disgruntled people in our current economy: those who don’t have jobs and those who do. Why? Because for each person who has left an organization, the ones left behind are working harder, feeling overworked and underappreciated, and often being underpaid. Almost everyone in the workplace has been “doing more with less” for a long time. Yet productivity has risen 2.3% annually during these tough times, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This increase is due to fewer employees working more hours and taking on bigger workloads. This is good news for CFOs and senior managers, but it comes at a cost. The dark side of productivity improvement is that people are stretched too thin. Many employees have reached the point of burnout and are no longer able or willing to give their all every day. The last flicker of discretionary energy has, in many cases, been spent.

But can you get higher productivity without burning people out? Our experience says “yes.”

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A Career in Social Work: Part biography, part overview of social work careers

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August 2, 2023

New data from Fawcett shows 95% of local councils are male dominated

New analysis from the Fawcett Society and Democracy Club shows just how far we have to go to achieve truly equal gender representation. Currently, fewer than 5% (18 or 382) of local councils have achieved at least parity in gender representation. That means, based on the current rate of change, we won’t see 50:50 representation until 2051. Fawcett regularly conducts analysis of women’s representation in local authorities in lieu of any official government or political party monitoring.

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LinkedIn: Connect online & join Neil Thompson’s HUMANSOLUTIONS discussion group

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July 18, 2023

Spotlight – Your Social Work Journey

Journaling has become a very popular activity for many people in many settings. Much of the reason for its popularity is that it gives helpful opportunities for exploring our thoughts and feelings about important issues that affect us. It serves as a useful sounding board for dealing with issues that can be confusing and disorientating. Beginning a career in social work is, of course, a major undertaking and a significant life-changing step that should not be made unthinkingly or without adequate preparation. It is for this reason that this journal has been developed.

Available from https://neilthompson.info/shop/ or Amazon

LinkedIn: Connect online & join Neil Thompson’s HUMANSOLUTIONS discussion group

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July 18, 2023

Neil Thompson’s Lessons for Living – Think before you write

Jobs that involve working with people generally have a written work component to them (report writing and record keeping, for example). This can become a routine part of the job, and so there is a danger that we write without first thinking about what we are writing, why we are writing it and who we are writing it for. The result can be very poor-quality written work, communication breakdowns and misleading records and reports that have the potential to wreak havoc. What we write may continue to be used for many years to come by other people involved in the future, so committing stuff to writing for posterity without giving it any thought is a risky business. So, the idea of ‘think before you write’ is wise counsel.

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A fresh look at social work theory and methods

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