"The social work side is disappearing. I guess it started with us being called care managers"

Social services staff now working as care managers are experiencing considerable changes in the nature of their work compared with their former role as social workers. These changes are characterised by an increase in bureaucracy and a decrease in the time and effort expended in forming, and working within, a relationship with their clients. A number of factors have influenced the transition in care managers' roles including the long-debated, but unresolved, issue of the professional nature of social work and the growth of managerialism. This article uses recent research data to argue that care managers are struggling t o retain elements of what they understand to be ‘social work’ in their practice. Changes in the nature of their work have implications for how care managers function and the resultant outcomes for the people with whom they work.