Social Workers: Conditions of Employment

(asked on 27th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the report by Dr Jermaine Ravalier, UK Social Workers: Working Conditions and Wellbeing, published in August 2018, what strategies they have considered to alleviate the workload of social workers.


This question was answered on 13th March 2019

Local authorities are responsible for making best use of their social work resource, including ensuring social workers have manageable workloads and receive effective support and supervision.

The annual Social Work Health Check is a key element of the Local Government Association’s Standards for Employers and provides a national picture of social work across adult social care. Findings for the 2017/18 Health Check, which was completed by 51% of councils and three National Health Service trusts, were encouraging, with most reporting they had effective workforce planning, safe workloads and case load allocation. We are working with the Local Government Association and the sector to refresh the Standards to ensure they apply equally to all settings in which social workers are employed and to extend the Health Check to children’s social care.

Social Work England is consulting on new rules and professional standards as it prepares to become the specialist regulator for social work, ensuring that promotion of the highest standards for safe and effective practice is the heart of its role.

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