Introduction

The previous chapter identified how understandings of adult safeguarding have evolved. The Care Act 2014 made safeguarding a statutory duty, with sections 42–47 focusing on ‘safeguarding adults at risk of abuse and neglect’. Social workers are leading practitioners in this process as they are tasked with assessing and managing such risks. But what do we mean when we talk about risk? ‘Risk’ is a term which features heavily in social work practice. A search of social work textbooks and online resources reveals a wide range of materials on the subject, including advice on defining risk, using risk assessments and working with risk. Social workers in practice are likely to encounter risk every day, as the topic is a feature of assessments, care planning and court work. This is not to say that risk is seen as a universally good thing. Critical commentaries are common, with social workers and social work academics writing of the ‘risks of risk management’ (Barsky, 2015) and the dangers of ‘feeding the risk monster’ (Featherstone et al, 2018).

Current social work literature on risk broadly falls into three categories. First, there are books and articles which give practical advice about how social workers might, or ought, to ‘do’ risk, setting out various risk assessment and management tools. Second, there are books and articles which provide a critical commentary on risk, seeking to unpack the meanings that are attached to it. Third, there is the research literature, which explores how social workers negotiate the concept of risk ‘on the ground’ (Crath et al, 2023). There is, however, a shortage of research examining how social workers manage risk in practice within adult social work, with most studies focusing on child protection practice and to a lesser extent mental health.

While risk has become a central element of social work practice, we need to understand it within a broader framework. Risk is not just a dominant feature within social work; it is also a dominant feature within western societies. It has become an organising concept within science, economics and medicine. These disciplines all have their own knowledge about risk outlining how the risk is seen, measured or predicted.

As this book examines social work perceptions of risk within adult safeguarding work, this chapter sets the scene by outlining different ways of thinking about risk.