Community Care

APRIL 26, 2024

The government has readvertised the chief social worker for adults position at a higher salary , six months after it started recruiting for a successor to Lyn Romeo. Having a proven track record of operating successfully in a senior leadership role within social work, adult social care or local government.

Social Worker 196

Social Worker Government Communication Social Services 196

Community Care

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

The number of frontline children’s social workers employed by English councils or children’s trusts has tumbled by 8% since 2020, official data shows. DfE workforce census 2022: key numbers 31,600 full-time equivalent (FTE) children’s social workers were in post in English councils as of September 2022.

Social Worker 282

Social Worker Consultation Government 282

Community Care

MARCH 3, 2023

Social work leaders have come together to forge solutions to mounting workforce challenges in England. Social Work England has convened a group including representatives from government, employers and professional bodies, to tackle the severe recruitment and retention pressures being faced across the country. in September 2021.

Social Worker 257

Social Worker Diversity Government Interviewing 257

Community Care

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Fast-track programme Think Ahead will train 320 more mental health social workers after the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) extended its contract up to 2027. extension covers two cohorts, starting in 2024 and 2025, each of 160 trainees, the same size as the 2023 cohort.

Social Worker 322

Social Worker Mental Health Diversity University 322

Community Care

JANUARY 8, 2024

These included Ofsted and Doncaster’s local authority designated officer (LADO) service. The DfE, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England should co-ordinate support for councils and ICB commissioners to improve forecasting, procurement and market shaping. Accepted in principle. Accepted in principle.

Disability 249

Disability Advocacy Government Consultation 249

Community Care

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Joanne* recently completed the consolidation programme , a mandatory learning and development qualification for newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) in Wales. “It All social workers who qualified in Wales on or after 1 April 2016 must complete the programme during their first three-year registration period.

Social Worker 209

Social Worker University Communication Social Services 209

Community Care

JUNE 9, 2023

Welsh councils must be legally required to set maximum manageable caseloads for their children’s social workers and to take all reasonable steps to maintain them. Social work caseloads ‘too high’ “Overwhelmingly, we heard that children’s services social workers’ caseloads are too high,” said the report.

Social Worker 243

Social Worker Government 243

Community Care

MARCH 18, 2024

A ‘massive reduction’ in the care population, with many more children cared for at home or with extended family, will be the key measure of success for the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) social care reforms.

Social Worker 291

Social Worker Government 291

Community Care

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

Agency social worker pay in would be capped to the equivalent earned by permanent staff under government plans to reduce the use and cost of locums in statutory children’s services. ” “However, overreliance on agency social work resource has led to workforce instability, churn and high costs,” it said.

Social Worker 305

Social Worker Engagement Consultation Government 305

Community Care

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

As of March 2023, about 140,000 care workers in the independent sector in England (17% of the total) earned the then NLW of £9.50, according to Skills for Care’s latest report on the workforce. and will be worth £1,800 a year in cash terms for full-time workers. Average real pay fell from £10.66

Government 228

Government Home Care Disability Social Services 228

Community Care

JUNE 9, 2023

Over three-quarters of social work roles are not being advertised on a part-time or flexible-hours basis, despite a rise in their proportion since last year. Twenty three per cent of online adverts studied by the Social Workers Union (SWU) on two dates earlier this year offered part-time or flexible hours, up from 18.7%

Social Worker 204

Social Worker Interviewing Therapist Government 204

Community Care

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Our work seeks to develop innovative ways in which children and young people can digitally and safely self-refer to children’s social care, allowing them to communicate harms and experiences in real time. We recently interviewed senior managers across eight local authorities to scope their readiness for children’s digital safeguarding.

Case Management 194

Case Management Communication Self-harm Adoption 194

Community Care

JANUARY 6, 2023

The Scottish Government must pause its ‘disruptive’ plans to remove social care from council control, in order to shore up local authority services that face real-terms cuts in 2023-24. National Care Service plan. Following COSLA’s comments, a Social Work Scotland spokesperson said this was still its position.

Criminal Justice 287

Criminal Justice Government 287

Community Care

AUGUST 2, 2023

Kate Shoesmith, deputy chief executive, the REC By Kate Shoesmith We welcome the fact that the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) is no longer calling for curbs on agency social work in England to be implemented earlier than the government’s April 2024 target date. What are the proposed rules on agency work?

Social Worker 179

Social Worker Engagement 179

Community Care

NOVEMBER 5, 2023

Councils are rationing adult social care through “subjective” eligibility judgments, a think-tank has concluded. The IFG made the claim in a report analysing the performance of adult social care, published last week. below 2014-15 levels (254,550). below 2014-15 levels (254,550).

Government 335

Government Disability Mental Health Social Services 335

Community Care

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Overseas care staff instrumental in cutting vacancy levels Overseas staff were instrumental in a slight reduction in adult social care vacancies – from 164,000 to 152,000 – and increase in filled posts, from 1.615m to 1.635m, between March 2022 and March 2023. rise in the national living wage , from £10.42

Government 209

Government Disability 209

Community Care

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Adult social worker numbers in local authorities hit a record high last year, official figures show. English councils increased their headcount of adult social workers, including agency staff, from 17,300 to 18,500 in the year to September 2023, a 7% boost, according to annual statistics released this week by Skills for Care.

Social Worker 192

Social Worker Government Therapist Disability 192

Community Care

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

of OT posts in council adults’ services departments were vacant, up from 8.9% in September 2022, according to the latest workforce data from Skills for Care. A sharp rise in vacancy rates for council occupational therapists is putting “significant stress” on remaining practitioners, OT leaders have warned.

Rehabilitation 251

Rehabilitation Therapist Hospitals Social Worker 251

Community Care

JANUARY 6, 2023

There is a “mixed picture” in relation to tackling racism on assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) programmes, the latest analysis of children’s services schemes has found. There is much more we can do in improving anti-racist practice and to create a truly inclusive environment for the whole of our workforce.

Diversity 255

Diversity Social Worker Engagement 255

Community Care

JULY 12, 2023

The Department for Education is likely to go ahead with rules restricting agency social work in statutory children’s services in England, a sector leader has indicated. “We are pushing the point to government over and over and over about how important it is to go ahead with the reforms,” she said.

Social Worker 202

Social Worker Consultation Government Interviewing 202

Community Care

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Increasing numbers of children’s agency social workers are newly qualified, amid worsening staff shortages and rising demand, directors have warned. increase in referrals to children’s social care – in part, the result of the removal of lockdown restrictions – and a 9.6%

Social Worker 280

Social Worker Disability 280

Community Care

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Council heads have urged the government to fund another return to social work scheme to bring 200 practitioners back into practice and alleviate pressures on the workforce in England. How to return to social work in England. Mounting workforce pressures. This pushed the FTE vacancy rate up from 16.1%

Government 262

Government Social Worker 262

Community Care

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Social Work England is commissioning research into the profession’s mounting recruitment and retention challenges, particularly in councils. This in turn would inform its approach to regulating the profession, it said, given the potential for current workforce pressures to lead to increased levels of risk to the public.

Social Worker 254

Social Worker Diversity Consultation Mental Health 254

Community Care

JUNE 7, 2022

A report for social work leaders has proposed specific caseload limits for practitioners to help mitigate the mounting workload burdens many face. Scottish Government proposes National Social Work Agency. Caseloads bigger, more complex and harder to manage, say children’s social workers.

Criminal Justice 314

Criminal Justice Administration Social Worker Government 314

Community Care

JULY 20, 2023

Social work bodies have voiced their disappointment at the absence of any references to the profession in the health service’s long-term workforce plan, issued by NHS England last month.

Mental Health 162

Mental Health Healthcare Therapist Social Worker 162

Community Care

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Councils would be able to exceed regionally agreed agency social work price caps under proposed statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. full-time equivalent children’s services social work posts were held by a locum, up from 15.5% As of September 2022, 17.6% a year earlier.

Engagement 276

Engagement Consultation Social Worker Administration 276

Community Care

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

‘Little progress’ Overall, Ofsted found “little progress” in the quality of social work practice for children in need of help and protection since it rated North Somerset’s children’s services as ‘requires improvement’ in March 2020. Inadequate’ authority invests in workforce.

Social Worker 252

Social Worker Case Management 252

Community Care

MAY 12, 2023

There is “momentum for change” among sector leaders and practitioners to tackle the social work’s mounting workforce “crisis”, according to a Social Work England lead. of FTE children’s services posts were held by agency workers, up from 15.5% in September 2021. At the same time, 17.6%

Social Worker 201

Social Worker Government University Consultation 201

Community Care

OCTOBER 13, 2023

The findings come as an analysis shows that adult social care staff with higher pay, a relevant qualification, access to training and more job security are significantly less likely to leave their roles than counterparts without these characteristics. Of this group, half (51%) had been working in the sector for five years or more.

Government 207

Government Social Services Social Services 207

Community Care

JANUARY 4, 2022

The Department for Education has renewed calls for children’s social workers who are not currently practising to return to the profession temporarily to ease staffing pressures caused by Covid-19. Many local workforces are facing pressure due to Covid-19,” he posted on social media just before Christmas. “We Related articles.

Social Worker 314

Social Worker Government 314

Community Care

DECEMBER 6, 2021

Social workers have been freed up to spend more time with children after council investment led to a “significant reduction” in caseloads, Ofsted has found. Department for Education (DfE) figures show that Walsall’s agency social worker rate halved from 30.5% Workforce investment. We were letting our children down’.

Social Worker 305

Social Worker Interventional Engagement Disability 305

Community Care

APRIL 11, 2023

The government has dropped a pledge to invest in new social work training routes as part of a halving of committed spending on developing the adult social care workforce. This came in a policy paper setting out next steps on taking forward its 2021 adult social care white paper, People at the heart of care.

Government 259

Government Social Worker Mental Health Counseling 259

Community Care

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

The government has increased funding for adult social care to help tackle NHS pressures this winter by £10m. “It will improve social care capacity, boost discharge rates and avoid unnecessary admissions, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waits for care,” said care minister Helen Whately.

Hospital Discharges 218

Hospital Discharges Hospitals Government Disability 218

Community Care

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

The NAO issued the message in a report assessing the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) ability to deliver on its wider adult social care system reforms. This is in a context in which councils and the wider sector must also implement the DHSC’s other reforms to the social care system.

Government 175

Government Social Worker Case Management Administration 175

Community Care

MAY 9, 2023

Social work leaders must integrate anti-racism into all aspects of practice to achieve change, experts told a conference recently. If you focus all your training on practitioners, everybody else is going to stay the same,” said Khan, who also leads on the workforce race equality standard for Leeds children’s services.

Diversity 265

Diversity Social Worker Psychology University 265

Community Care

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Introducing specialist child protection social workers is posing workforce challenges for the councils testing the system. Issues included retaining staff, maintaining safeguarding skills among other social workers and avoiding disruption to families as a result of the reform.

Social Worker 256

Social Worker Adoption Diversity Consultation 256

Community Care

MAY 25, 2022

A council is at risk of losing control of its children’s services after the government intervened in the light of a damning Ofsted report. On the basis of this, the DfE issued a statutory direction this week concluding that the authority was failing to perform its children’s social care functions to an adequate standard.

Interventional 319

Interventional Government 319