
Rights, Justice and Economic Wellbeing
Advance human rights and promote social justice and economic well-being.
Social workers recognise the fundamental principles of human rights and equality, and that these are protected in national and international law, conventions and policies. They ensure these principles underpin their practice. Social workers understand the importance of using and contributing to case law and applying these rights in their own practice. They understand the effects of oppression, discrimination and poverty.
Practitioners at this level should:
- Provide guidance and challenge to others about applying the principles of social justice, social inclusion and equality to decision-making.
- Demonstrate ability to interpret and use current legislation and guidance to protect and/or advance people's rights and entitlements, balancing use of different legislation to achieve the best outcomes; support colleagues (both inside and outside the organisation) to do so.
- Be able to communicate legislative issues to other professionals and agencies.
- Model best practice in applying human and civil rights, providing support to others and challenge where required.
- Support others to enable individuals to access opportunities that may enhance their economic status (e.g. education, work, housing, health services & welfare benefits).
- Promote access to independent advocacy, ensuring best practice and critical review, and contribute to the evaluation of independent advocacy.
Evidencing your capabilities:
At the Experienced Social Worker level, you will need to emphasise how you have provided guidance and assistance to others so that they can effectively promote human rights and social justice. You may also need to show that you are interpreting the law accurately with a significant grasp of primary legislation and case law.
You should draw on sources of evidence which concern the law or human rights. Case examples in which you have applied the law with some authority would be useful, as would examples where you have modelled the appropriate use of judgement about rights or entitlement. The other feature in this domain is focused around social justice, and so examples which involve social rights rather than legal entitlements would also be helpful. At this level your arguments should be relatively sophisticated.