Sir: I fully agree with all that Mr Scarlet has to say about the evasion of respon .
sibility in his article on the Maria Colwell case. But it is essential to correct one glaring error. Social workers are not underpaid: A qualified social worker in Leicestershire. for example, is paid £I,926-C2,373 plus £104, (threshold), plus re-location expenses up to £350, plus a car allowance. A senior social worker in Nottingham is paid £2,535-E2,820 plus threshold payments. A principal training officer (social services) in Avon is paid £3,816. £4,356. And so it goes up the scale to £10,000 for the director of social services. Incidentally, a social worker at St Mary's Group of Teaching Hospitals is paid £2,184-C2,679 plus London weighting. It is interesting to compare this with a nurse's pay. Or a teacher's. These are the current rates of pay and can be checked in New Society. What mystifies me is how the myth of the underpaid social worker started. What mystifies me still more is why their services are considered to be so much more valuable than those of nurses and • teachers. John Braine Pentons, Onslow Crescent, Woking. Surrey
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