Work has started on a project which could have major implications for every social worker in Scotland.

Having just been appointed president of the Association of Directors of Social Work, Mr Peter Cassidy, director of social work for Aberdeen City Council, was asked to investigate the best ways of supporting front line staff.

Addressing the Association's conference in Inverness, Scottish Health Minister Sam Galbraith personally invited Mr Cassidy to look at how social workers could best be helped to handle the increasing stress, threats of violence, increasing absenteeism, and how to manage the changes ahead for them.

Mr Galbraith said the aim had to be to ensure that as much time as possible was spent with the people whose social welfare they were trying to ensure and to minimise the time spent on administration.

Mr Cassidy, who has already reported to his own council on support for front-line staff, has now begun the task of drawing together the team which will report to Mr Galbraith before the end of the year on their findings.

He has been in discussion with Mr Andrew Skinner, the Scottish Office Inspector of Social Work, and is giving consideration to who could join the special committee to ensure all views are reflected.

''I think we need to be clearer in communicating with the public about what social work is, what social work does, what it can do and what it cannot be expected to do,'' he told The Herald.

''As we approach the Millennium and the Scottish Parliament we need to be clearer about the contribution social work can make to big issues on the Government agenda like social exclusion.''

He said he was very surprised at the number of people, even within government, who regard social exclusion as an issue that doesn't necessarily involve social work.

''We are dealing day in and day out with the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and by any definition socially excluded people and clearly we need to make sure that connection is more clearly understood.''

He said there was a general public understanding that many of the areas with which social work deals were inevitably stressful.

''Some involve risk and many involve difficult moral issues and involve people who have been experiencing financial and or relationship difficulties and other things before they involve social work.

''They often involve a solution that is not going to make everyone happy.''

He said that increasingly such high stress cases had been the priority workload for social workers and as resources became tighter there was less and less time to deal with the problems and the examination of how they could be supported would be welcomed universally by social workers.

Mr Cassidy said they would look as creatively and diligently as possibly at the problems and clarify the role of social work in the public and political eye.

''When we get to the Scottish Parliament I would hope that the clear role of social work will be obvious on the policy agenda.''

Mr Cassidy said that the very mention of even more change could virtually paralyse some people but that in fact many of the Government changes involved drawing on the skills and familiar things social workers had been drawing on for years.