Introduction

It is axiomatic that a core component of social work is its value base and related commitment to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice. This is borne out by the weight of social work literature that is committed to challenging racism, discrimination and oppression in their widest forms through a clear focus on achieving social justice for marginalised and oppressed groups in society. This focus on anti-racist values is enshrined in the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) Statement of Ethical Principles (2012), which guides social work practice and education from a perspective firmly rooted in principles of human rights and social justice. Social work practitioners and students need to grapple regularly with the ethical contradictions thrown up in practice situations to ensure they are acting from anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive perspectives. Such contradictions and ethical dilemmas are unfortunately all the more apparent in a period of economic crisis and associated ‘austerity’ measures as are now being imposed by central banks and national governments across Europe and worldwide (Ferguson and Lavalette 2013a).

Within this broad context, there are deepening and continuing attacks on previously accepted ideas of welfarism and multiculturalism, which pose significant challenges for social work practice. As McKibbin (2013) and others argue, in the UK it is the poor, the disabled and the vulnerable who are increasingly bearing the brunt of the coalition government's ideologically driven attacks on welfare, leading to increasing impoverishment and misery for tens of thousands of people; many of whom will be in contact with social work.