Community Care

APRIL 17, 2024

Incoming Association of Directors of Children’s Services president Andy Smith is passionate about social work’s potential to improve children’s lives. While such a belief is commonplace among senior managers in local authority children’s services, for Smith, it is personal.

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Social Worker Diversity Government Adoption 260

Community Care

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Councils are employing record numbers of children’s social workers on the back of a 25% boost to recruitment last year, official figures have shown. Those were among the key messages from the DfE’s statistics on the workforce of children’s social workers in English local authorities as of September 2023 , released today.

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Social Worker Recovery Engagement 196

Community Care

DECEMBER 6, 2023

SASW – the Scottish branch of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) – also called for guaranteed reflective supervision and training, reduced administrative burdens and paid overtime for practitioners.

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Administration Social Worker Government Social Services 260

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.

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Social Worker University Communication Social Services 209

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.

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Social Worker Consultation Government 282

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. It is essential we invest in and develop social work capacity and capability to provide the right support at the right time for those we are here to serve.”

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Social Worker Mental Health Diversity University 322

Community Care

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Almost half of social workers in Wales say they are likely to quit the profession over the next five years, a survey has found. Over three-quarters said that they felt stressed due to workload, while almost a quarter did not feel safe at work, according to the research carried out for Social Care Wales by Opinion Research Services (ORS).

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Social Worker Government 277

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.

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Disability Advocacy Government Consultation 249

Community Care

OCTOBER 20, 2023

The government should find £500,000 to help 200 former practitioners return to social work in its forthcoming autumn statement, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said. Worsening workforce picture These showed that: 31,600 full-time equivalent (FTE) children’s social workers were in post in English councils as of September 2022.

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Government Social Worker Administration Consultation 244

Community Care

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

Northern Ireland’s health and social care (HSC) trusts will have to stop using agency social workers from next June, its Department of Health (DoH) has said. Rates of agency social work use across Northern Ireland are lower than in England, where 15.5% ‘Anxiety’ over agency ban. and adult care 9.5%

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Social Worker Anxiety Government University 260

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.

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Social Worker Engagement Consultation Government 305

Community Care

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Just over four in five of the first cohort of social work apprentices gained their qualification, official data has shown. of apprentices qualified as a social worker in 2021-22, including all of those who completed the course. to train a further 461 social work apprentices to work in children’s services.

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University Government Social Worker 228

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. This presented challenges for children’s social care, but services were quick to adapt. It simply is not on the radar!

Case Management 194

Case Management Communication Self-harm Adoption 194

Community Care

JUNE 29, 2023

The NHS increased the size of its mental health social work workforce by 20% from 2019-22, official figures show. The figures includes trainee social workers in year one of the Think Ahead fast-track qualifying programme.

Mental Health 211

Mental Health Social Worker Interventional Diversity 211

Community Care

MARCH 13, 2024

The proportion of those who reported personal experience of domestic abuse (39.1%) compares with a prevalence rate for women aged over 16 across England and Wales of 27% as of 2023, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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Counseling Interviewing Diversity Disability 237

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. This is currently being tested through the so-called families first for children pathfinders.

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Social Worker Government 291

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.

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Government Social Worker Mental Health Counseling 259

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.

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Government Social Worker 262

Community Care

DECEMBER 5, 2023

This included a bar on care workers who take up jobs using the health and care visa bringing dependants with them, as they are currently permitted to do. Cleverly told the House of Commons yesterday that he did not envisage that the measures would have a negative impact on the social care workforce.

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Government Disability 209

Community Care

JULY 28, 2023

Racism is driving black and minority ethnic social workers out of permanent local authority posts into agency work, research with over 1,000 practitioners has found. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. LIIA and SESLIP also conducted focus groups attended by 150 people.

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Social Worker 209

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%

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Social Worker Interviewing Therapist Government 204

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?

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Social Worker Engagement 179

Community Care

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The Care Quality Commission has given its initial verdict on council adult social care services under its new local authority assurance system. There will be no observation of practice by social workers or other professionals, such as occupational therapists.

Nursing Home 246

Nursing Home Social Worker Government Social Services 246

Community Care

JUNE 29, 2023

By Clare Jerrom Social worker vacancies have fallen in Wales as staff shortages in England have risen, show official figures. The social worker vacancy rate fell from 10.8% in the year to summer 2022 across Welsh council and local authority-commissioned services, according to Social Care Wales statistics.

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Social Worker Diversity Government Therapist 180

Community Care

JUNE 6, 2023

Story updated* A plan to ban agency social work in Northern Ireland’s health and social care (HSC) trusts could be in place, as planned, by the end of this month. ” “Ending recruitment agency use in social work will help to build and maintain a stable and consistent social work workforce. .”

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Social Worker Consultation University Social Services 237

Community Care

AUGUST 14, 2023

By Rachael Wardell Kate Shoesmith’s recent article for Community Care argued that the Department for Education’s (DfE) proposed rules on agency work won’t fix the issues facing the local authority children’s services workforce. A requirement for a minimum six-week notice period for agency social workers.

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Social Worker Engagement 200

Community Care

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Lyn Romeo will step down as England’s chief social worker for adults in January after just over a decade in the post. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said Romeo was taking retirement.

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Social Worker Government Mental Health Social Services 306

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%

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Social Worker Government University Consultation 201

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. A requirement for employers to request and provide references for all agency social worker candidates. A ban on agency project teams. the year before.

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Social Worker Consultation Government Interviewing 202

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

Social Worker 314

Social Worker Government 314

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.

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Government Social Services Social Services 207

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.

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Criminal Justice Government 287

Community Care

JUNE 28, 2023

The NHS increased the size of its mental health social work workforce by 20% from 2019-22, official figures show. The figures include participants on the fast-track Think Ahead programme, which is geared towards training people to work in mental health social work.

Mental Health 180

Mental Health Social Worker Interventional Diversity 180

Community Care

JUNE 6, 2023

A plan to ban agency social work in Northern Ireland’s health and social care (HSC) trusts is likely to miss its target of being implemented this month. in 2020-21, said a DoH review of the social work workforce published last year. in 2020-21, said a DoH review of the social work workforce published last year.

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Social Worker Consultation University Anxiety 246

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.

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Hospital Discharges Hospitals Government Disability 218

Community Care

DECEMBER 16, 2022

One in five children’s social work posts lay vacant in English councils this summer in the wake of practitioners reporting rising stress and workloads and reduced job satisfaction and support from employers. Directors not confident about social work capacity. Sharp rise in vacancy rate.

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Social Worker 260

Community Care

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The government has started its quest for a new chief social worker for adults, after Lyn Romeo announced her retirement after a decade in post. A salary of £100,000 is on offer for a successful external candidate, with a civil servant who obtains the role being paid in line with internal rules.

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Social Worker Government Communication 234