New Chief Social Worker role for England

Norman Lamb, care and support minister, has introduced new social worker roles to support and develop the sector in England. Taking up the role of Chief Social Worker For Adults is Lyn Romeo.

The social work industry has gained a new member with a new position following the intervention of the care and support minister, Norman Lamb. Lyn Romeo is our first Chief Social Worker for Adults in England and will

transition fully into the role by the end of summer in 2013.

She currently works for Camden as Assistant Director of Adult Social Care and Joint Commissioning; her new role will be as a two-year secondment for now. She will also work with Isabelle Trowler, the Chief Social Worker to Children in England (another new appointee).

Romeo’s core focuses will be on the frontline’s experiences; raising awareness of social work in adult social care; professional skills and values; increasing relationships with community for service provision to assuage the effects of budget cuts; improve morale in the industry and increasing integration in service provision.

She'll be concentrating on several key areas that the industry has been focusing on for many years now; increasing adults with disabilities’ say in deliverance of services and their inclusion in community, the increase of dementia and an ageing population.

She will also be forming relationships with organisations like the College of Social Work in order to provide outsider points of view and to make sure “that we make a real difference in supporting social workers”.

Lyn Romeo’s professional background includes frontline social work; work at the department of health on social care policy development; inspector work with a national regulator; management positions and social care and currently, assistant director for adult social care for Camden borough.

Together these roles constitute a 35 years’ experience in this sector.

Lyn has said “As a social worker myself, I know how challenging it can be on the frontline... It will be my aim to boost the profile of adult social work, support social workers in improving the quality of their practice and to make sure social workers can support the people they work with to achieve the outcomes they want for themselves.”