Following our first meeting as executives, we would like to welcome Ms. Colette Farrugia Bennett as the new chairperson, wishing her all the success possible in this post. Ms. Roslynn Vella, Mr. David Castillo, Ms Myriam Grech and Ms. Anthea Agius have retained their posts as Treasurer, International Relations Officer, Training and Continuous Professional Development Officer and International and Public Relations Officer respectively. On the other hand, Ms. Martina Testa has been nominated as Memberships and Events co-ordinator, while Mr. Joseph Antoncich has been nominated as the association’s Secretary and Communications Officer.
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The media had reacted immediately to these cuts and it was therefore of paramount importance that the MASW make its views known to the Minister as early as possible; in this way, he would be in a position to express his decisions and the reasoning behind them, whereas we, as the Association that safeguards the interests of the Social Work profession in Malta and Gozo would reiterate our position, which was, is and will be that these cuts can only be detrimental to our members, their service users and the profession as a whole. This, particularly so, when as recently as last January the Finance Ministry announced that such cutbacks (budget adjustments) will not have any impact on social services amongst other areas.
The meeting was cordial and the Minister has expressed his wish for a further meeting with the Association to further amplify these concerns. The Association will be convening its Executive this week to discuss the situation and has already outreached to its members to gather their reactions on the current situation at their place of work and how this measure will effect both them and the service they offer their service users.
Finally, the MASW believes that these Agencies are essential to the social fibre of our country and, many times, social workers engaged in this work are stretched to the limit and find it extremely difficult to deliver the kind of service they would wish to deliver because of mounting case-loads and increased referrals.
Unfortunately this situation is rendering an additional decrease in resources utilised by the social workers for and with their service users, while the expectation for providing an optimal service and outcome of that work is forever on the increase.
Social support agencies to see funding cut
Three government agencies involved in the social sector will suffer a drop in their funding as part of government cutbacks.
Justice and Family Affairs Minister Chris Said, replying to a parliamentary question, said his ministry would see its budget fall by €1.7m.
Within it, the Sapport agency will see a cutback of €407,000 to €7.7m. The budget of Appogg will drop by €178,000 to €3.4m, while the budget of Sedqa will be reduced by €130,000 to €2.5m.
The minister said spending will also be reduced in the budget for the law. There will be a small cut in spending in support of NGOs.
The government has said it will reduce its total spending by €40m to give it elbow room to intervene in particular sectors to safeguard jobs, should that be necessary in the current international economic climate. The cuts had also been sought by the EU to ensure that Malta achieved its deficit reduction targets.
