5 Summary of Session 4

Social care professionals have significant powers, rights and responsibilities in their professional role which can profoundly affect people’s lives (e.g. when intervening in family life to protect children and adults from abuse). They have a duty to act in the best interests of service users. They are also accountable for the exercise of their judgement.

The law provides the mandate for social care professional practice and the framework within which professional judgement can be exercised. Good practice, however, involves more than knowing and applying the law; it also involves social care professional skills and values. While the law does not provide an answer to all the complex problems and dilemmas that social care professionals often face, it does provide them with powers to engage with the people they work with in order to best address their needs.

This session has emphasised the importance of human rights to social care and social work practice, which is reflected not just in the law but also in the commitment to respect the human rights of service users and carers. This commitment is what frames the more detailed advice and guidance that social care professionals are given in the various codes of conduct, professional standards, codes of practice and general guidance that apply to their area of practice.