All facets of social work are believed to have ethical scopes. In the social work practice, the social worker is faced with ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas arise when with two equally undesirable alternatives, that he or she has to make a choice on which one to apply and the one to leave, face a worker (Mittendorf and Schroeder, 2005). The alternatives may involve ethical values. In such a case the social worker’s ability to make ethical judgments and decisions is of great importance (Banks and Williams, 2006). Regardless of the nature of the dilemma the social worker has to make a decision and move forward. Discussed below are the ethical and practical dilemmas experienced by social workers.

To start with, a social worker can encounter dilemmas involving program design and development (Adams, 2002). There are some statutes that appear unjust to the social worker and a dilemma in their applications faces him or her (Payne, 1997). A good example is the case of Thelma. Her support hours reduced yet her situation had not improved. Moreover, it was said that her support service is to be closed since her needs were ongoing. The move is not just since she has not yet improved according to occupational therapists. The resulting decisions to make constitutes a dilemma since the social worker finds it hard to comply with the decision of stopping Thelma’s service since her condition is still poor (Payne, 1999).

Dilemmas involving confidentiality also face social workers (Reamer, 1982). The dilemmas arise when a social worker is to make a decision on whether to disclose information of a person to a third party without that person’s consent so as to protect the third party. The social worker would wish to protect the third party but disclosing such information would constitute to violation of human rights (Manetta and Wells, 2001).

Another dilemma involves the social work administrators find out that their colleagues get involved in fraudulent behaviours (Mardas, 2000). The social work administrator need to make a decision about whether to report a case or not.

Another ethical dilemma involves individual rights and welfare (Rhodes, 1986). It is a service user’s right to make their own decisions on what to do and what not to. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the social worker to promote the welfare of the society (Maurogeni, 2007). When there is an oppressed person, in their places of living, the social worker should go the extra mile to support the person. If a person rejects the support then the social worker is in a dilemma.

Public welfare also constitutes some degree of dilemma to the social worker (Mcbeath and Webb, 2003). The social worker has a responsibility of promoting the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Speicher, 1998). Sometimes it requires that one person’s life be put at risk in order for a solution to be obtained that could save the society. The social worker is still concerned with the life of the one person as well as with getting the solution to safeguard the society. There arises a dilemma since as much as a social worker is looking for a solution, the welfare and safety of one person matters (Sonnenberg, 2004).

Equality and structural oppression also come with a dilemma. It is the responsibility of a social worker to challenge oppression and to inscribe changes in the society as well as settle religious and cultural differences (Solas, 2008). The social worker should not favour any side when solving conflicts on the basis of cultural or religious backgrounds.

On the issue of the needy, a person may appear very needy in the eyes of the social worker but may not get help sine they do not meet the criteria (Mcauliffe, 2005b). The decision making involved here is another form of an ethical dilemma to the social worker because he or she is always after promoting the lives of people and ensuring that the needy are fully assisted. However, the social worker’s profession does not allow the worker to make decisions out of their own discretion when they have been given the criteria to apply in the selection (Mcauliffe, 2005a).

Lastly, boundaries, professional roles and relationships also constitute dilemmas for social workers. The social worker should be able to decide what roles they should take and in what situations. A social worker can take the role of a counselor , controller, campaigner, assessor, advocate or friend depending on the situation (Mayer, 2005). When the situation changes, the role is expected to change. The dilemma arises when the social worker’s client does not recognize the difference in the roles and insists to continue with the same relationship (Dominelli, 2004).

.The Care Act 2014

The Care Act 2014 will replace the existing social care legislation and is expected to become operational in April 2015. The Care Act addresses a number of issues among them being putting a limit on the amount that a person will have to pay towards the cost of their care. Means test will be used to test whether one should make a contribution towards the cost of their care or not. The Act also addresses the general responsibilities of local authorities towards care and support. Among the responsibilities include promoting individual well-being, promotion of integration of care and support with health services, promotion of diversity and quality in the provision of services. It also addresses the ways of meeting the needs for care. The ways of assessing an adult’s needs for care and support also feature in the Act.

Other issues that that the Act addresses are the care standards as the quality of service. The Act addresses the issue of the local government funding cuts. The financial assistance reduction will affect the local authority planning as well as the adult social care service provision. These financial cutbacks are unfair, and they are curtailing the ability of the local authorities to provide care. However, some local authorities have decided to help in meeting the costs of adult social care by reducing care costs and cutting on personal budgets (McNicoll, 2014).

The accountability lies on the professional conduct as opposed to both the agency and the service user. The reason is because the professional conduct is what is applied by the agency. Should the professional conduct be revised, there could be some favors on the service user.