ABSTRACT
Of the three projects, the one in the social services department had a setting nearest to that of ordinary social work practice. It took place in two intake teams in an inner London social services department. The settings differed in the degree to which the clients progressed through the various stages of task-centred work. More qualitative evidence for variations in workers’ effectiveness may be provided by a comparison of the kinds of work undertaken by different workers in the various projects. Agreement between client and worker is central to the theory of task-centred casework and, it seems from the social services study, to its actual success. A further requirement for the success of task-centred casework is that the worker has the necessary personal and professional qualities. Difficulties in employing the task-centred approach do not only arise from defects in social work training or attitudes.
