Social Work: Staff
(asked on 7th December 2021) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has a workforce plan for social work for (a) adults and (b) children.
The recent adult social care white paper, ‘People at the Heart of Care’ sets out plans for an investment of at least £500 million in learning and development for the adult social care workforce. This includes social work training routes, continued funding of social work education and supporting a range of graduate programmes. In July 2021, we commissioned Health Education England to review long term trends in the health and social care workforce to support the National Health Service and social care in the next 15 years. This will include regulated professionals such as social workers.
The Government’s workforce strategy for children’s services ‘Putting children first: our vision for children’s social care’ is available at the following link:
The Knowledge and Skills statements were introduced in 2014 and form the foundation of the post-qualification specialist career pathway for child and family social workers. We are investing in the recruitment, retention and development of social workers through initiatives such as Frontline and Step Up to Social Work, the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, the Practice Supervisor and Practice Leaders Development Programmes, and the Upon Inspiring Leaders programme. Social Work England, the new specialist regulator for social workers, aims to improve the quality of social work practice for adults, children and families and has introduced new professional and education and training standards.