Towards Accountability in Social Work: One Year's Intake to an Area Office

Monitoring one year's referrals to an area office of a social services department, we found that of the 2,436 referrals representing 2,057 cases, about half were already known to the area office. Demographically the clientele fell largely into three groups—the elderly, young families and children. The main problem groupings consisted of those with physical disabilities or suffering from frailty in old age, those with financial and environmental problems, and families with disturbed relationships and child care problems. Most of the clients had short-term help and at the end of six months only 11% of the referrals were still open. Distinctive profiles emerged when comparing the routes by which clients with different types of problems reached the area office and the help they got once they had passed its threshold: (a) The elderly and disabled, mainly referred by the health services, received predominantly practical help. (b) Those with financial and material problems, largely self-referred, received information, advice and referral to other agencies. (c) The disturbed families, referred by many different sources, received detailed exploration, assessment and casework. Those clients who were passed on for more extended help to the long-term teams—some 10% of the intake—were mainly the very vulnerable elderly and disabled persons, and children who had been taken into care or who were in need of surveillance and protection for other reasons. The study raises questions about the methods of service delivery in response to the demands made on the area office and discusses possible changes in approach towards more community-oriented preventive work.