Samma takt till nya toner - handläggare om yrkesidentitet och professionell status efter ändrad delegationsordning

Sammanfattning: Social work has been the subject for many reformations during the last decades. One change in the execution of meeting the needs of the public – a changed delegation order – decreases the social workers’ right to make decisions, in the social service’s housing unit in a Swedish municipality. The aim of this study was to investigate what this change means for the professionals at this organization, in terms of possibilities, boundaries and professional identity, as well as how this could be understood from a professional theoretical perspective. The study draws on statements collected through semi structured interviews, where eight housing administrators in a Swedish municipality were asked about the new delegation order and what it meant for their work and professionalism. The results consist of two overall findings: To start with, the respondents point to experiences of change in the practical investigation work in terms of more documentation and legitimizing tasks, but not in the actual outcomes of decisions. Thus, whereas the aim for changing the delegation for decision making focused on changing the actual outcomes and making social work more unitary and legally secure, the experiences speak of something different. Furthermore, the professionals have been challenged in their professional autonomy with the perception of a decline in professional influence, which arguably can be seen as a form of deprofessionalization. These two findings when put in relation to each other raise important questions regarding what the future holds for professional social work in its strive to meet the expectation of auditable social work.