On administrative evil-doing within social work policy and services: law, ethics and practice

Abstract

This paper explores further the disjunction between espoused professional ethics and ethics in practice, and between law in statute and law in action, the evidence for which was presented in a previous article in this journal. It considers explanations for this disjunction, or corruption of care, including the concept of administrative evil-doing, and reviews the challenges facing social work practitioners, educators and managers when providing ethics-informed leadership. It concludes with recommendations for the reconfiguration of the employment position of social workers in councils with social services responsibilities in England and of the processes by which local policy and practice is monitored.