Applying a community needs profiling approach to tackling service user poverty

Abstract

Poverty across the United Kingdom is a growing phenomenon. Its impact on the users of social work services is well documented. This paper puts forward the argument that poverty is a legitimate part of the social work agenda rather than being seen as a complex problem which is somehow outside the scope of social work agencies and best left to politicians and policy makers. Social work practitioners and managers must not only begin to accept and acknowledge that poverty is a social work issue but also to begin confronting this challenge in a changing society where exclusion, social inequality, racism and oppression deny people their citizenship. The community needs profiling approach is proposed as a useful tool in addressing service user poverty whereby practitioners and their agencies can become more aware of the needs of users and the communities in which they live. It is argued that, armed with this knowledge, social workers have the potential to become part of the solution rather than remaining on the margins of the lives of poor people. Using evidence and ideas drawn from a range of community needs profiling research studies and texts, the author offers working suggestions for applying the approach.

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