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Working with radicalisation risk – A redistribution of Orwellian pre-crime

This guest blog post is by Dr. Tony Stanley. Tony is the Principal Social Worker (PSW) for Tower Hamlets local authority, in London. Holding a small caseload, he has direct experience of working with radicalisation risk cases. He argues that all PSWs should hold cases so they can authentically report on practice issues affecting the frontline. Tony has been appointed Chief Social Worker for Birmingham City Council and starts his new role in October.

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The Non-Linear War on Social Work in the UK: Extremism, Radicalisation, Troubled Families and the recasting of “safeguarding”

A guest post by  Jo Finch and David McKendrick

Social work has always occupied a difficult place in the UK;  its history dominated by Victorian moralised discourse, with lady almoners, later Charity Organisation Service volunteers, making decisions about who was deserving or non-deserving.  Social work thus straddles an uncomfortable place, being an agent of the state on one hand, on the other, holding ideals and values that places human dignity and self worth, empowerment and social justice at its heart.  The care versus control function, inherent in social work in many countries, continues to be challenging.