P-06-1226 Remove barriers to entry to Social Work and encourage parity of esteem between Social Care and Health

Petitions4

This petition was submitted by Cardiff University Social Work Masters Cohort, having collected a total of 475 signatures.

Text of Petition:                    

The current Welsh Government policy is placing unnecessary hardships onto would-be social workers. Currently, social worker masters students are prohibited from obtaining a student loan and social care bursary concurrently.

We call on the Welsh Parliament to request the Welsh Government to encourage and support social work students from all backgrounds, remove barriers to the profession, and develop a greater parity of esteem between the Health and Social care workforce.

Additional Information:

Social Work MA students are prohibited from obtaining a student loan and social care bursary concurrently. This results in a deficit of several thousand pounds with no support for accommodation, food, utility bills, car, and general living costs for over two years.

This places immense pressures on the future workforce and acts as a barrier to the profession. WG supports our NHS colleagues with grants to pay tuition fees in full, in addition to granting access to living costs bursaries or paid a salary. Many NHS students received the Covid payment when SW students were excluded. This is despite SW students managing caseloads in the thousands throughout Wales during the pandemic.

The lack of parity of esteem between Social & Health care is epitomised by the differential treatment among Welsh students. WG announced a record funding of £227m for the education and training of the NHS workforce. Less than 0.2% of that sum would rectify the difficulties facing SW masters students in Wales.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 25/04/2022.

The Committee considered the petition and noted that the petition has succeeded in securing access to more funding for future cohorts of postgraduate social work students, which will improve the situation with further options being worked on and a social work workforce plan due to be published. The Committee agreed to congratulate the petitioner on their success and close the petition.

Full details of the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 24/01/2022.

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Cardiff Central
• South Wales Central

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