If you read the headlines of some national tabloids, you might be forgiven for thinking social workers are an incompetent, uncaring, abusive bunch. Nursing, on the other hand, is rightly painted as the noble profession, often held aloft by the prime minister while the work of carers goes largely forgotten – unless, of course, it is negative.

But Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) president Margaret Wilcox, herself a former nurse, believes there is a ‘lot of confusion' about what social work is and what it does. ‘Social workers are good people. There will always be one or two scandals, just as there is in the NHS and banking, for example.