ABSTRACT
With more scandals and enactment after enactment now surrounding the daily activities of the social workers, certainly more so now than before does the social worker and student of social work alike need to grasp the nettle and learn the law. Since the late 1980s the role of social workers has never come under such a tide of scrutiny by both the courts, government and not least of all its clients, than in any previous era. That trend of bureaucracy and regulation has increased in the 1990s with further legislation. Furthermore, since the 1997 General Election returned a Labour government to Westminster a deluge of new legislation is expected. Had a Conservative government been re-elected, its White paper entitled: ‘Social Services: Achievement and Challenge’, of March 1997, highlighted an expectant extension of privatisation within social services departments across the UK. Whether a ‘new’ Labour government will adopt or modify these ideas will soon be seen.
