Divided we fall?

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has seen its membership plummet from 19,000 to 10,000 and now has little income apart from subscriptions. During the boom in the 80's its magazine Social Work Today provided an annual income of between 300,000 and 400,000 pounds sterling but lost money with the recession. It has since been partly sold off and then virtually closed. Residential workers claim the association ignores unqualified or lower qualified social care personnel, refusing to accept that social work has changed from its traditional past.