Social Work Today

Chris Jones was appointed as lecturer in social work at Lancashire Polytechnic in 1979, where he was Head of Department from 1986 until 1992. He has been actively engaged in developments in social work education throughout the country and is author, amongst other things, of State Social Work and the Working Class. Tony Novak has been lecturer in social policy at Bradford University since 1978. He is the author of two books on poverty and social security. SUMMARY This paper argues that over the last fifteen years social work in Britain has undergone a significant transformation. Under increasing attack, both in the media and from govern ment and its new right ideologues, social work has faced an increasingly impoverished client group with fewer resources and growing uncertainty about its legitimate role. In this context, legislative, administrative and financial changes have pushed social work into an increasingly antagonistic relationship with clients and have left it demoralized and without a clear sense of direction. The paper looks at the way this change has come about and argues that it has profound implications for the future of social work in the reduced welfare state of the 1990s.