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I am glad to report that this position has now improved beyond
all measure and that much progress has been made in recent
months towards a fuller implementation of the Council's policy.
It has not yet been possible to provide local offices for area
teams because of the difficulty of finding suitable accommodation
for them. Some social workers still do not feel equipped by
training or experience to adopt a generic role, though many
are now coming closer to this concept.
The re-organisation of departments affected not
only the work of social services but all sections of the department.
It involved much transfer of office accommodation, major changes
in administrative procedures and control, and changes in function
and status for personnel. The London Boroughs Management Services
Unit had previously conducted surveys of organisation and methods
within each of the sections of the new Department and many of
the Unit's recommendations were being implemented during this
period. With the transfer of responsibility for housing rent
collection to the Borough Treasurer's Department, and for the
maintenance of Council houses to the Borough Architect's Department,
the Housing Department, now responsible for housing letting
and management, rent rebates and arrears recovery, became
a division of the Health and Family Services Departmen.*
The Environmental Health Section became responsible
for public control functions previously undertaken in the
Town Clerk's Department,, In order to allow closer alignment
of like functions the Chief Public Health Inspector's staff were
moved from their offices at Wallington Town Hall to The Lodge,
Carshalton, where they were accommodated together with the
Housing Manager"s staff. This enabled the staff of the Children's
Department to move to Wallington Town Hall where, by internal
adjustments to the allocation of offices between sections, the
new Social Services Division (as it came to be called) occupied
the whole of the ground floor. The Administration Section became
responsible for central management service to all sections,
each of which maintained the sectional clerical/administrative staff
necessary to support the field work within its own periphery.
Housing
With a large number of houses and flats becoming
available for letting at Roundshaw and on other estates it has
been possible to deal with many families who vere in serious housing
need. With committees having the same membership responsible
for Council Housing and Health and Social Services, it has been
possible to support that minority of tenants who are socially
and medically disabled more effectively and to weigh in each
case all the factors contributing to each situation and to deteimine
action accordingly. This has undoubtedly led to emphasis being
placed upon the broader welfare of these families. It has, however,
added to the difficulties of the Housing Manager and his staff in
ensuring that the Council's reasonable conditions of tenancy
are met, with the result that there has been a steady increase
in the number of cases of rent arrears. In reviewing the position
generally there can be no doubt of the benefit to Health and
Social Services from a close association with housing functions
though it does not necessarily follow that the reverse is true.
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