Book excerpt: ‘Hatton’s book is a welcome antidote to stagnation and moribund thinking in contemporary professional practice and readers will gain much from engaging with the concepts he sets out and the challenges he raises.’ Jonathan Parker, Series Editor Since the first edition of Kieron Hatton’s important book outlining many of the New Directions facing social work a significant number of changes and challenges have continued to have a huge impact on contemporary social work practice in the UK. From the second Laming report and the subsequent work of the Social Work Task Force, Social Work Reform Board and The College of Social Work, to the Reclaiming Social Work agenda and Munro Review, the context within which social work is practice has continued to change and this new edition unpicks the challenges, opportunities and threats facing the social workers of today. This book re-establishes an important contribution to learning from which students, their service users and ultimately society should benefit.