Keeping Going
- fareenashaheed
- Mar 8, 2023
- 5 min read
The issue of recruitment and retention in the social work profession is getting a lot of attention at the moment. Last month the government published Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation.
This was in response to the Independent Review for Children’s Social Care, the reviews undertaken by the Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews Panel into the deaths of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, and the review undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority. The latter highlighted the absence of the right kinds of homes in the right places for children who enter the care system. All were published last year. Links to each report are at the end of this blog.
Last month the government also released the figures for the reporting year 2022 regarding the children’s social care workforce. This covers the period from October 1st 2021 to September 30th 2022, and is based on data collected from local authorities. This showed a 2.7% decrease in the numbers of full time equivalent (FTE) children and family social workers in post, which equates to 900 less than the previous year. This was the first year numbers in post have fallen since collection of this data commenced in 2017. Of the headline figures, increases were seen in the following:
vacancies – up 21% and the highest since collection started
children and family social workers leaving – up 9%
average caseloads – up from 16.3 to 16.6. This figure was 16.9 in 2019
sickness absence – up to 3.5% and the highest since collection started
Like many practising social workers I speak to, I worry about the future of the profession given the challenges of retention and the expectations often placed on many local authority social workers. My concerns, combined with looking at these figures, caused me to reflect on what has helped me to remain in the profession for so long.
I have worked in social care for over thirty years. I have been a qualified social worker since 1996, having taken the MSc route to achieve this. There have, of course, been times when I have felt like I was juggling too many plates, but I have honestly never seriously considered leaving the profession. Whilst it has its hard days, there is so much joy in simply seeing a family turn things around, and no longer have the need for social work assistance.
I’m really clear that a key factor in my longevity in the profession is the support I received in my first two years as a social worker. This was in a local authority in Berkshire. Many of those I worked with who were at a similar stage in their careers, are also still in social work. The LA had developed an internal development programme for newly qualified practitioners. This was long before the formal NQSW framework that has since been replaced by the ASYE, so the LA were clearly ahead of the game. As a newly qualified social worker I had huge numbers of learning opportunities. This was not only formal training, but I was also encouraged to shadow more experienced colleagues. I didn’t touch child protection until I had been in post for six months. At that point I was not the caseholder, but was co-working under the guidance of a more experienced practitioner, gradually taking on more responsibility as we progressed. I was not allocated proceedings until after I had been in post for a year. All of these building blocks were supported by regular and high quality supervision that included ongoing discussion about my progression, alongside the kind of work I should be allocated in order to help broaden my skills and experience.
I understand some readers might find it difficult to conceive that level of protection and support. That, perhaps, illustrates just how dire things have become. So, what is the way forward?
In their strategy document, the government invites views on various proposals. One that stands out is the proposed new five year Early Career Framework (ECF). The plan is for this to replace the current ASYE. It will provide “two years of consistent, high quality support and supervision” (p121). The belief is it will improve retention by providing the skills and knowledge needed to protect children. The document states, “As with ASYE, we will expect local authorities to provide the right support to social workers completing the ECF. At the same time, we will expect social workers to evidence that they have achieved the skills and knowledge required by each level of the framework, in line with other professions” (p122). Other than the increased duration, I am struggling to see how this differs from the current ASYE. Additionally, I have not met any ASYE social workers in recent times who have been consistently provided with the support expected of their LA. I’m not optimistic that will change any time soon.
This is a five year ECF. Years 3-5 will be designed to ensure more practitioners remain in front facing roles and develop to an ‘expert practitioner level’. This is positive, but there is no acknowledgment that routes into social work that the government has supported, such as Frontline, encourage practitioners to move to leadership roles after a short period in practice.
Perhaps I’m being cynical but the ECF feels a bit like the Emperor’s New Clothes. I’ll be intrigued to see what it looks like.
More positively, if we are to have any say in how our profession develops, it will be important to respond to the strategy document. The consultation closes on May 11th and online responses are encouraged via this link http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations
One of the reasons I don’t write many blogs is because I worry about always sounding negative. I appreciate this can be construed as such too, so perhaps I should write about what I think will make a difference.
I don’t pretend to have the answers nor a magic wand, but I think some very simple steps will make a difference.
The first of these is high quality, relationship based supervision, including group supervision. This needs to be regular and needs to be in an environment of trust. Practitioners need to know their managers are really listening to them, and are able to assist them in reflecting on and unpicking the dilemmas they are assisting families with. I would suggest managers sitting in front of a screen is not conducive to that. I know some will find that controversial and talk of the challenges of a manager’s workload. As someone who has managed I believe it is still achievable. Importantly, for such a change to succeed the culture of the organisation needs to support it, which of course leads to the whole issue of systemic change.
Social work with children and families will never be an exact science. We are working with people and emotions. We need to be able to accept that, on some occasions, we will not get everything right. Organisations need to have a culture that acknowledges this, and supports practitioners to learn in a helpful way when things don’t go as planned. Not having this kind of culture risks creating an environment of fear, where practitioners are quite literally terrified of making a mistake. This then hinders their ability for creative and innovative practice. It also has an adverse impact on relationships they build with families. Families need to see their social worker as competent and confident. This will help the families we are trying to assist to feel safe to explore the challenges they are managing, showing their vulnerabilities.
I appreciate these two suggestions are not ground breaking – simply a return to good social work practice that really does focus on the needs of those using the service, rather than feeding the demands of the system in which it operates.
A final factor that might help retention would be for salaries to be reviewed. As with so many public sector professions, pay within social work has not grown in real terms. Given the hardship being faced by so many sectors of the population currently, the likelihood of any change here is remote. Therefore, the issues of supervision and support become even more important if highly skilled practitioners are to remain in the profession.
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