Today is World Social Work Day, but given the dire state of public services, many might reach a conclusion that there is little to celebrate. This year's theme of 'Promoting Social and Economic Equalities' does not sit comfortably with vulnerable people who are being told by social workers that they cannot have help because of funding cuts.

Since the coalition government was elected, the manifesto promise of the Big Society has morphed into relentless bashing of benefit claimants via the media. Whether stories originate from press officers or from journalists, the results are the same. Strivers vs. Shirkers, benefit scroungers, large families fleecing the public purse, single mums, teen mums, are all headlines that fuel the increasingly hate-filled rhetoric against benefit claimants.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is hearing from more and more social workers who are extremely uncomfortable about being pressured, as a result of cuts and lack of resources, to turn a blind eye to poor practice and implement unethical procedures.

The Poor Law is the stuff of legend. It's what inspired the ire of Charles Dickens, the zeal of well-connected Victorian reformers, and the drive of politicians like Lloyd George.