Date: Wed 19 August 2009

Social work union welcomes Brandon Muir reports

UNISON, the union representing Scotland’s social work staff, today welcomed the two reports into the Brandon Muir case in Dundee.

Rory Malone, Dundee UNISON Branch Secretary said;

"At a time when some press and politicians appear to queue up to blame social work staff each time a family tragedy like this occurs, we welcome the findings of these independent and authoritative reports that no blame falls on members in Social Work.

"Dundee’s social care staff work very hard, often in difficult circumstances, to try and protect our children and all feel tragedies like this deeply. It is simply not possible to eradicate all risks, but UNISON has gone on record to identify a range of steps that can be taken to improve the position of social work staff and reduce that risk."*

UNISON has already started work with Dundee City Council to address some of the issues in the social work and will continue to discuss ways to implement recommendations in the report.

ENDS

Note for editors:
*Helping people change their lives - UNISON/BASW manifesto for Scotland’s Social Work, outlines 10 issues that need to be tackled to improve the position of social work staff and the services they provide.

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/socialwork/
swmanifesto25june2009.pdf

For Further Information Please Contact:
Rory Malone (Dundee UNISON Branch Secretary) 07595 893067 (m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m)

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