An experienced social worker is due to visit a child in care in a stable placement some distance away. A crisis situation and transport difficulties delay her. She decides to stay overnight (at her own expense) and visit the child the next morning. As a result of this she is

‘named and shamed’ on a list of social workers who fail to undertake statutory visits on time. If she had asked the foster carers to keep the child awake she would not have been disciplined. However, her choice to delay this in order not to disrupt the child’s routine and to give her time to properly engage with the child and her carers is clearly in the child’s interests and good social work practice.

Here the organisation is privileging one aspect (timeliness) of good practice in social work with children. An organisation committed to a well-led professional environment would ensure that their social work accountability framework valued ethical and committed practice as well. They would also ensure that the worker’s caseload was realistic.

If missing targets was a consistent feature of the social worker’s practice, an effective organisation would try to support her to manage her time rather than shame her.