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The Department for Education (DfE) has proposed a two-year support scheme for statutory children’s social workers, to replace the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) from September 2027.

The planned social work induction programme (SWIP) would give new practitioners “the best possible start to their careers”, said chief social worker for children and families Isabelle Trowler, in a video message to launch a consultation on the proposals.

However, the SWIP will only be implemented if the Treasury provides the DfE with sufficient cash in the forthcoming spending review, which will set public expenditure limits from 2026-29.

Under the plan, newly qualified social workers would receive two years of support – funded by the DfE – on joining local authority children’s services, at the end of which they would be assessed by employers against new post-qualifying standards (PQS).

The standards, also published yesterday for consultation, would replace the existing PQS (formerly the knowledge and skills statements) for children’s practitioners, which largely date back to 2015.

Proposed early career framework dropped

The plan for the SWIP replaces the previous government’s proposal for a five-year early career framework (ECF), under which the initial two years of support would be followed by a further three designed to enable children’s social workers gain specialist expertise.

The ambition to support advanced practice knowledge remains under the Labour plans, with the DfE saying it planned to “build on” the PQS by considering the knowledge and skills required to practise at higher levels, with an initial focus on child protection.

However, this would differ from the planned ECF, said Jim Magee, assistant director, social work workforce, at the DfE, in a session on the plans yesterday for Social Work Week, Social Work England’s annual programme of online events.

Magee said the department was not proposing a “continuous five-year programme”; instead, experienced practitioners would be able to develop specialist skills at any point in their careers, “not just in years three, four and five”.

Improving early career retention

As with the ECF, which was originally proposed by the 2021-22 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, the purposes of the SWIP are to improve skills and knowledge and boost retention among practitioners joining the workforce.

“A lot of social workers leave in the first three, four, five years of their career,” Magee told the Social Work Seek session. “We don’t want that to happen; we want to keep people in the workforce and invest in their careers.”

As with the ASYE, the SWIP would be a work-based programme, delivered by employers, with participants given protected time for learning, which Magee said should be accompanied by protected caseloads.

The DfE said it planned to “produce high-quality, standardised curriculum and training materials, based on the PQS,” to support employers in delivering the SWIP and promote national consistency. This would likely be accompanied by support for practice supervisors, given their critical role in helping new social workers make a success of the programme, the department added.

‘More consistent’ assessment

Social workers would be assessed by employers against the new PQS at the end of their two years and, as with the ASYE, there would not be a nationally prescribed assessment system, said the DfE.

Also in line with the ASYE, practitioners’ progress would be evaluated by an assessor, which the department said would be based on activities such as observations of direct practice, case notes, feedback from families and peers and reflective practice.

However, the DfE said it wanted to ensure greater national consistency of assessment than was currently the case with the ASYE, and planned to produce guidance for employers on how to evidence whether practitioners had met PQS expectations.

It added that it wanted to minimise the burdens on participants, assessors, supervisors and employers, a point picked up by Magee in the Social Work Week session.

“There’s currently a lot of writing [involved in the ASYE], so we want to see if we can make it lighter-touch so people can show what they know,” he added.

Focus on statutory children’s social work

The ASYE for children is currently open to children’s practitioners in statutory, voluntary and private organisations, including locums. However, the SWIP would be geared towards statutory local authority social work because that is what the proposed PQS are designed to apply to.

As such, the DfE said it did not believe that the SWIP would be “appropriate for, or deliverable to, social workers in other areas of the profession, eg in non-statutory child and family social work or social workers who do not support children and families”.

However, it said wanted to test the eligibility criteria for the SWIP to see if it could be applicable to staff in other settings, particularly Cafcass, independent fostering agencies and charities delivering services on behalf of councils.

“We are keen to understand whether these organisations could deliver the new induction and if there may be challenges covering the new PQS,” the department said. “Should there be challenges, an option might be for those organisations to work with local authorities to enable their new social workers to experience the full range of the PQS.”

There are currently no plans from the Department of Health and Social Care to replicate the SWIP in adults’ services in England, despite calls from Social Work England for a consistent approach to supporting newly qualified social workers, regardless of sector.

‘Investment in early career support pivotal to retention’

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) welcomed the proposals, with its workforce policy committee chair, Nicola Curley, saying: “Investing in early career support is essential to building a more experienced, confident, and sustainable workforce. It can play a pivotal role in improving retention by ensuring social workers feel valued, supported and are equipped to navigating the challenges that come with this line of work.

“ADCS will respond fully to this important consultation to help shape a system that is practical, effective and properly resourced – ultimately benefiting both social workers and the children and families they support.”

Have your say

You can respond to the consultation by answering this online survey by 28 May 2025.

The Department for Education (DfE) is to give an update on its policy on early career support for children’s social workers next month.

DfE officials are delivering a session on the issue as part of Social Work Week, Social Work England’s annual programme of online learning for professionals.

James O’Donoghue and Jim Magee, respectively, deputy director and assistant director, social work workforce, will share the department’s plans to improve training and support for children’s practitioners early in their career, and beyond, in the context of wider children’s social care reform.

Clarity on future of early career framework

This will likely clarify the future of the early career framework (ECF), the system of learning and development for council children’s social workers in their first five years of practice proposed by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, in its 2022 report.

The last Conservative government took up the idea in its 2023 Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy and selected eight local authorities or children’s trusts as “early adopters” to help develop and then test the idea.

It also appointed an expert writing group to produce the knowledge and skills framework underlying the ECF.

End of ECF early adopters programme 

In March 2024, the DfE issued a callout for a second group of early adopters, but did not report back on whether any had been selected.

East Sussex County Council, which was selected to test the model in 2023, said it finished doing so in September 2024, “when the early adopter funding ceased following the change in government”.

Despite the current Labour government having taken forward many of the policies in Stable Homes, Built on Love, and set out further reforms of its own to children’s services, it has not provided any update on the ECF since taking power in July 2024.

‘A very positive process’

A spokesperson for East Sussex said: “We understand that the work achieved through the early adopter initiative is being used to inform the DfE’s programme going forward.

“We found being part of the ECF early adopter programme to be a very positive process. In particular it enabled us to develop an emotional informed support framework, focused on working with newly qualified social workers about the emotional impact of their work with children and families. This has improved individual wellbeing and resilience and created safer practice.”

Social Work Week

Social Work Week, which runs from 17 to 21 March 2025, is a free programme of events on social work, with other sessions this year covering topics including the future of the profession, artificial intelligence, retention, fitness to practise and social work’s public image.

You can book tickets for individual sessions now.

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, newly qualified social worker Anjali Singhal celebrates the team manager who, “without judgement”, supported her through the learning and struggles of her assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).

This is about my team manager, Nasreen Agal.

I recently completed my assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) and I was lucky to be in the same team that I had completed my placement in.

I was lucky enough to also remain with the same team manager, Nasreen.

Nasreen is always available to listen – whether it is about personal or professional need – and will always go above and beyond to help.

In one of my cases, I was pushing myself only because I thought it was needed for my career development, and she asked me to sit and reflect if I was ready for this. She provided me support without any judgment and allowed me the time to work on the areas I was struggling with.

She has always been open in her communication and expects honesty in return. There is no micromanagement; instead, she places ownership and responsibility on the professionals while always being available to guide and help them.

Her consideration extends beyond working hours too. Whenever we complete visits in the evening, she ensures that we all confirm we have reached home safely (we have a WhatsApp group for the team).

Thank you Nasreen.

How to nominate a colleague

You can nominate anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.

Hello, everyone! We’re Elizabeth Opeche and Veronica John-Sdiri, social workers reflecting on our journey so far. We’d like to share some insights and tips that could benefit fellow social workers, especially those starting their assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) programme.

A journey of resilience

Elizabeth Opeche, social worker, Essex County Council

We have been engaging with newly qualified colleagues in Essex, who have shared some truly inspiring stories. We hope to contribute to this collective wisdom.

However, we would like to begin by reminding our readers that social work consistently tests your resilience, stamina and determination – qualities that are essential for success in this field.

The demands of case management, crisis intervention and various other responsibilities can challenge your ability to remain focused and proactive in high-pressure environments. Nonetheless, rest assured that you will not be undertaking this journey alone.

What has our experience been like?

Veronica John-Sdiri, social worker, Essex County Council

Overall, our time in social work has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve been fortunate to be part of a supportive team where everyone is approachable and willing to help. This has made a significant difference as we transitioned from being students to professionals.

Here are some factors that facilitated a positive transition in our journey:

Good induction. One key factor in our smooth start was the thorough induction we received. If you’re new to your role and haven’t had an induction, we would highly recommend it!

Access to relevant training opportunities. Nurture a commitment to lifelong learning! Your employer’s intranet is likely a treasure trove of training opportunities. If you’re on the ASYE programme, make sure to explore these resources! Additionally, (and this will depend on the organisation you work for), we had a six-week training package titled  Embedding Professionalism for NQSWs. This course was a game-changer for us. It helped bridge our academic knowledge with practical application in our current work, enhancing both our confidence and effectiveness. You may want to check if this is available to you; your employer may have titled the programme differently, though it serves the same purpose.

Use of intranet resources. We found a wealth of information on the intranet, and we are sure you will too! Take the time to familiarise yourself with the intranet of the organisation you work for. Here are examples of what we found: up-to-date information on organisational policies, ethical guidelines, best practice information, resources for effective documentation, assessment and intervention strategies, links to peer support groups and supervision resources to promote collaboration and wellbeing. It is a valuable tool that can enhance your practice and support your professional development.

Be resourceful. Social work is a dynamic and multifaceted profession that often requires practitioners to pull information from a diverse range of sources. Therefore, we must be resourceful. Keep notes on everything you learn, whether digitally or in hard copy. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Acronyms list: compile a list of acronyms used in your area. While minimising their use is encouraged, they often crop up in practice.
• Contact information: maintain a directory of organisations, including local services, with their contact details for quick reference.

Connect with peers. Make the most of the NQSW peer support group. It’s a fantastic platform for sharing your ASYE experiences, asking questions and benefiting from the collective support of your colleagues. Check with your peers to see if you’ve missed anything vital.

Collaboration is key. Our profession thrives on collaboration, with the people we support, their friends and family, and with other professionals. This helps us better understand the complexities of the situation and provides more effective support.

Reflect! Reflect!! Reflect!!! Engage in reflection regularly. Journaling is an excellent way to document your thoughts and experiences. It can be easy to forget the great work you do when you’re busy, so setting aside time for this will aid your reflections. To deepen your understanding and enhance your practice, consider asking yourself:

• What am I doing?
• Why am I doing it this way?
• How does the adult feel about it?
• What outcomes are they seeking?

Prioritise self-care. Social work is demanding, so it’s essential to prioritise self-care. We’re still working on this, but taking time for yourself – whether during lunchbreaks or designated wellbeing hours – can help recharge your spirit.

Take charge of your ASYE programme. Remember, you are on a fast-paced journey, and you are in the driving seat! Staying organised is essential. Here are some tips:

• Track deadlines: keep a calendar for supervisions, visits, observations and reflections. Aim to complete at least 85% on time while remaining flexible with the rest.
• Seek support: don’t hesitate to ask questions – there are no silly queries! Engage with your peers, attend team meetings and participate in ASYE forums. Our local authority has a practice forum, which has been particularly beneficial for us.
• Seek shadowing opportunities: be proactive about shadowing experienced colleagues to gain valuable learning experiences.
• Be proactive: everyone is busy, so you will need to be proactive in, for example, seeking shadowing opportunities, scheduling relevant meetings within your remit, including your supervision meetings, and asking questions if you are unsure.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

We’re expanding our My Brilliant Colleague series to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

What we wish we’d known: time flies in the ASYE year

One of the first lessons we learned was how quickly the ASYE year moves! Organisation is crucial, so be more organised than we were!

Plan the progression stages of the ASYE programme well in advance, just as you would have done during your placements. Submission dates can sneak up on you, and balancing team demands, casework and assignments can be quite challenging.

Conclusion

There’s so much more we could share, but these key points are a great starting place.

Remember, you’re not alone on this journey, and utilising your resources and support network is vital. Thank you for reading, and we wish you all the best in your social work endeavours!

Elizabeth Opeche and Veronica John-Sdiri both work as social workers in adult social care for Essex County Council.

Readers’ Take is a weekly series by Community Care that showcases your opinions on trending topics. To take part, vote in our weekly poll and share your thoughts in the comments section of the related article. You can read previous articles from this series here.

Social workers have weighed in on how to improve the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).

This follows Skill for Care’s 2023-24 report on the children’s ASYE, which found that, while the failure rate had dropped, black and minority ethnic practitioners remained less likely to pass than their white counterparts.

Women were also more than twice as likely to pass as men, while many newly qualified practitioners were taking on higher caseloads than recommended due to team loyalty.

The report warned that NQSWs’ willingness to take on this workload could lead to burnout, stressing the need for senior managers to protect development time and ensure caseloads remained manageable.

Despite these challenges, most ASYE leads and assessors surveyed agreed that the programme improved NQSWs’ confidence as well as outcomes for those they supported.

Tailoring ASYE to each practitioner

A poll of 722 votes found that the three top ideas for improving the ASYE experience were tailoring the year to the needs of individual practitioners (26%), assigning complex cases only when there was appropriate support in place (24%), and lowering caseloads (24%).

Increasing opportunities for reflective supervision received 11% backing and offering more tailored support for black and minority ethnic social workers had 9% support.

The rest (6%) called for dedicated groups within local authorities for black and ethnic minority social workers, similar to Skills for Care’s group for ethnic minority practitioners (GEMS).

GEMS members have reported instances of racism from both colleagues and those they support, as well as the negative impact of having to adapt their speech, appearance and behaviour to the expectations of others.

‘Setting practitioners up to fail’

Comments under the related article said unrealistic expectations were being placed on new practitioners.

Addressing the persistent racial gap, Alan McDonald highlighted institutional racism and unconscious bias as ongoing issues that the profession needed to address.

“The profession seriously needs to look at itself and tackle the inequality within.”

Another practitioner, Matt, said that ASYE failure rates reflected more on employers than the social workers concerned.

“It’s time the profession, employers and educators got real about the challenges of becoming, let alone being, a social worker,” he added. “Working specifically with the highest need families in society brings with it, naturally, the highest level of risks and complexities.

“To expect people to manage this after coming out of university is unrealistic…It’s setting people up to fail.”

‘One size does not fit all’

One practice educator, T, echoed the need for the ASYE to be tailored to individual practitioners, noting that “one size does not fit all”.

“I’ve had ASYEs under the apprenticeship programme and others who qualified under a different route. Not only have their abilities been different, but so have their learning experiences,” they said.

T added that, for NQSWs, carrying a 90% caseload was a “massive jump” from university expectations, especially when case complexity was factored in.

“There will be those that need the recommended cap and others who don’t,” T said. “A key factor is making sure they feel supported in whatever they are doing, that they are confident and their practice is appropriate and safe for all involved.”

Their opinion on caseloads was echoed by Harriet, who added that social services owed “more to the families and children” than sending a “recently qualified and inexperienced” practitioner to help them through a crisis.

How would you improve practitioners’ experience of ASYE?

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The failure rate for the children’s assessed and support year in employment (ASYE) has fallen but black and minority ethnic practitioners remain less likely than white counterparts to pass the year.

Skills for Care’s annual report on the children’s ASYE for 2023-24 also showed that women were consistently more likely to pass the year compared with men, continuing another trend.

And despite the ASYE framework recommending that 10% of newly qualified social workers’ time is protected for learning, the report found that NQSWs’ loyalty to their teams was such that they often took on a higher-than-recommended caseload.

However, most ASYE leads, assessors and social workers surveyed for the report said the supported year had had a positive impact on the practice confidence of NQSWs and on outcomes for people using services.

Record numbers on the children’s ASYE

The report showed that record numbers of social workers – 3,203 – were registered on the children’s ASYE in 2023-24, up 12.6% on the previous year.

This is likely to reflect, in part, the fact that 2023 was a graduation year for the biennial Step Up to Social Work course, meaning there was a greater supply of graduates trained to work in children’s services than in the previous year.

The vast majority of participants (94%) were working in local authorities, with London and the North West the most represented regions, with 17% each of the cohort.

Falling failure rate

From 2018-19 to 2021-22, the failure rate for the children’s ASYE fell from 1.57% to 0.46% of participants.

However, the report showed that previous disparities in failure rates based on race or ethnicity, sex/gender and whether the person had deferred persisted.

Among black and minority ethnic NQSWs, the failure rate fell from 2.71% in 2018-19 to 1% in 2021-22, but over the same period, the rate for white practitioners dropped from 1.11% to 0.28%, meaning they were three times as likely to pass.

And women were more than twice as likely to pass the year in 2021-22 than men (0.36% as against 1.17%), as was the case in 2018-19 (1.39% as against 3.13%).

Need for spaces for minority ethnic social workers

Skills for Care runs a dedicated group for ethnic minority social workers (GEMS), whose members have raised issues including dealing with racism from both people who receive support and colleagues, and the negative impact on them of having to adapt their speech, appearance and behaviour to the expectations of others.

The size of the group has grown over time and its members have confirmed the value of having a forum specifically for them, with some highlighting the need for this to continue post-ASYE.

“This indicates that there is still a gap between reality and the need for these NQSWs and social workers to be offered specific support that is geared to their needs in an environment in which they feel safe enough to express and explore their need for support which enables them to grow and develop as qualified social workers,” the report said.

Most NQSWs surveyed for the report agreed or strongly agreed that everyone in their organisation had an equal opportunity to develop (75%) and that leaders were approachable on issues of anti-racist practice (69%). However, because of small sample sizes, these were not broken down by the person’s ethnicity.

More NQSWs reporting additional needs but some fear disclosure

Skills for Care said more NQSWs were reporting additional support needs to their employers. In many cases, organisations were responding appropriately through their policies and procedures and there were good examples of employers supporting neurodivergent social workers, such as those with autism or ADHD.

However, the report added added: “Not all NQSWs feel as though they are having an equitable experience or feel comfortable enough to disclose additional needs to their employer for fear of jeopardising their employment opportunities or their ASYE.”

The workforce development body urged employers to put in place an equity, equality, diversity and inclusion (EEDI) framework for the ASYE, co-produced with graduate social workers, that “makes it clear from the outset what support is available to NQSWs and what the process is for gaining support”.

Workload concerns

The report added that workload was “another area where NQSWs are not receiving an equitable experience”.

Even where there were good organisational policies in place to manage workloads in line with the ASYE framework, NQSWs were often willing to take on a higher-than-recommended caseload due to loyalty to their teams, in the context of high rates of referral to children’s services.

“The strain of taking on additional and more complex cases before they are ready does not support NQSWs to develop deeper learning that will support them within their career and can lead to early burnout,” the report warned.

“It is therefore crucial that senior managers are aware of this issue and are proactively instrumental in protecting development time for NQSWs and ensuring caseloads are at the appropriate level.”

Leads, assessors and NQSWs supportive of ASYE

ASYE leads, assessors and NQSWs were generally positive about the year, in response to surveys carried out by Skills for Care, which also included responses from those working in adults’ services.

All leads agreed or strongly agreed that the ASYE improved the practice confidence of NQSWs, while 89% said that they believed it improved outcomes for people receiving services.

Among assessors, 89% agreed that the ASYE improved practice confidence and 82% that it improved outcomes.

While NQSWs surveyed were less positive as a whole, 81% agreed that the ASYE boosted practice confidence, with 73% saying that it improved outcomes.

‘There is more to do’ – directors

In response to the annual report, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) said it was positive that there were record numbers of enrolments in the 2023-24 ASYE and the failure rate has fallen over time.

Nicola Curley, chair of the ADCS’s workforce policy committee, added: “At a time when need in our communities is growing, so too is our need for more people to choose social work as a career and to stay in the profession. Further work is needed to understand why some groups are more likely to be unsuccessful in completing the ASYE than their peers. This includes people from Black and global majority communities, males and those who have deferred their ASYE.

“The report highlights how equity, equality, diversity and inclusion (EEDI) is being strongly promoted by employers and that more newly qualified social workers are comfortable disclosing any additional support needs they have during their ASYE, which can only be a good thing. However, the report also acknowledges that there is more to do here and in other areas, such as ensuring that caseloads are manageable, individuals have appropriate protected time for development and feel able to raise any concerns they may have with their managers.

“As employers, we are committed to doing all we can to support our staff across all stages of the workforce, from newly qualified social workers on their ASYE through to senior leadership. We cannot make a difference to the children and families we work with without a well supported social work workforce.”

Early career framework question marks

The report comes with the previous government having initiated work to replace the children’s ASYE with a five-year early career framework, under its Stable Homes, Built on Love children’s social care reform programme.

Last year, the Department for Education (DfE) selected eight organisations as early adopters to help develop the ECF, before appealing for a second cohort of employers to come forward in March this year.

No announcement was made on the second cohort before the election and the new Labour government has been silent so far on which aspects of the Stable Homes, Built on Love reform programme it will and will not take forward.

Social Work England has called for a consistent approach to supporting early career social workers, amid government plans to replace the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) in council children’s services, but not in other sectors.

The regulator said it was encouraging the government to “pursue an approach which would eventually ensure consistency and equity of support and training for newly qualified social workers across the whole of the profession”.

The Department for Education (DfE) is currently developing a five-year early career framework for social workers in local authority children’s services in England, for implementation in 2026, as part of its children’s social care reform programme.

About the early career framework

The first part of this would be a two-year programme of induction and support for newly qualified social workers that would replace the ASYE. This would be followed by a further three years of career development, in which social workers would have the opportunity to become expert practitioners in specialist areas, such as child protection.

The ECF will comprise a framework setting out the knowledge and skills required of social workers at practitioner and expert practitioner levels, a programme of support and training for social workers to achieve these requirements and a system of assessment against them.

Eight areas are currently involved in developing the ECF, with the DfE currently looking for others to join its early adopters programme.

Currently, there is broad equality in the post-qualifying support offer to newly qualified social workers (NQSW), regardless of sector and who employs them.

The DfE and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) provide funding to Skills for Care to deliver the ASYE programme to staff in children’s and adults’ services, respectively, across all employment sectors, through a single framework.

Social Work England chief’s call for consistency

In a session during Social Work England’s online event, Social Work Week, its chief executive, Colum Conway, said it was “really important” that the ECF worked for the whole profession.

In a subsequent statement to Community Care, Conway added: “We are engaging with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care to explore how an early career framework may evolve or be applied in different settings and contexts.

“We are encouraging government to pursue an approach which would eventually ensure consistency and equity of support and training for newly qualified social workers across the whole of the profession. We see value in an early career framework structure and approach that can be adapted to suit different areas of social work practice.”

The issue was also addressed in a Social Work Week on the DfE’s social care reform programme, after a delegate questioned how far the department was working with the DHSC in relation to ensuring consistent support to NQSWs.

Framework ‘will not limit social workers’ job mobility’

In response, James O’Donoghue, deputy director, social work training, development and leadership, said: “We talk a lot to DHSC about this and they are very interested in what we’re doing [with the early career framework] and they may take forward their own plans in the future.

He said there was already specialisation within the sector with there being separate ASYEs for children’s and adults’ services, and the departments were looking to ensure that the ECF did not limit people’s ability to move between the sectors.

“We believe that extra support for child and family social workers is a benefit and will not limit mobility between the sectors,” he added.

The DHSC was approached for comment for this article but had not responded at the time of publication.

The government is urging more councils and children’s trusts to test its planned five-year programme of support for newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) in children’s services.

The Department for Education issued a second call for bids to trial the early career framework (ECF) today, after selecting eight organisations to do so last year.

The chosen organisations will help the DfE better understand the needs of early career children’s social workers, inform the makeup of the ECF and design an accompanying development programme for practitioners. They will get £50,000 for taking part.

Replacing the ASYE

Under the DfE’s children’s social care reforms, the ECF is designed to replace the 12-month assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) with a longer-term programme of support.

This would be split into an initial two-year induction period for new staff, followed by a further three years of career development in which they would be enabled to specialise.

The policy is designed to boost social workers’ skills and knowledge, but also improve retention. This is in the light of feedback that practitioners struggled particularly in years two to four of their careers after losing the support provided through the ASYE.

In selecting the first eight ECF early adopters last year, the DfE specifically sought employers who were already providing support for NQSWs that stretched beyond the ASYE.

There is no such stipulation for the second round of early adopters, however, they must:

• Be Ofsted-rated good or outstanding (in the first round, ‘requires improvement’ authorities were permitted to apply).
• Appoint a minimum of 20 NQSWs in children’s services each year.
• Have sufficient capacity, flexibility and willingness to fully engage with the programme.

The DfE is particularly after councils or trusts from the East of England, East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber, regions that were not represented in the first round.

How to take part

To take part, organisations need to request the expressions of interest form by emailing SocialWork.ECF@education.gov.uk with their contact details.

You can also request, via the same email address, to take part in two online sessions – on 15 March (12noon to 1pm) and 20 March (2pm to 3pm) – to find out more.

The application deadline is 4 April 2024 at midday.

Eight organisations have been selected to help design and then test the government’s proposed early career framework for social workers (ECF) starting their careers in statutory children’s services.

The Department for Education (DfE) has chosen three independent, non-local authority providers as early adopters for the five-year ECF: Achieving for Children, for its services in Kingston and Richmond; Birmingham Children’s Trust, and Together for Children in Sunderland.

They are joined by five local authorities – East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Plymouth, Stockport and Tower Hamlets – with the group working with the DfE to design a model for delivering the ECF during 2023-24, supported by an expected £50,000 in grant funding each, initially.

They would then, along with another group of authorities, test elements of the model from September 2024, with the DfE planning to implement the ECF from September 2026.

All eight have been chosen on the basis that they already have a system for supporting early career children’s social workers that extends beyond the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).

The DfE plans to replace the ASYE with a two-year induction period, which would be followed by a further three years of career development in which practitioners would be expected to specialise, for example, in child protection.

In guidance published in March, the DfE said designing the ECF would be complex because of the need to identify the knowledge and skills required by early career social workers, the method and delivery of training and assessment and the balance between central and local delivery of the programme.

It said it wanted to work with the early adopters to explore the strengths and limitations of their existing programmes of support for early career practitioners, including their impact on social workers.

Separately, the DfE has appointed an “expert writing group” to develop a knowledge and skills framework for practitioners undergoing the ECF.

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The Department for Education (DfE) has backed a care review proposal for a five-year early career framework (ECF) for the development of children’s social workers, but rejected its call to introduce national pay scales to recognise progress.

The ECF would provide newly qualified local authority children’s social workers with two years of “high-quality support and development” that would replace the existing 12-month assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE).

In years three to five of the ECF, social workers would be supported to become “expert practitioners”, which the DfE said would create “a cohort of highly trained social workers capable of dealing with the most complex cases and spreading best practice”.

The ECF will be tested by a group of early adopter councils from this year with a view to it becoming an entitlement from September 2026.

In setting out the proposals in its children’s social care strategy, issued for consultation last week, the DfE has accepted the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care’s recommendation to introduce an ECF to boost social worker skills, knowledge, career development and retention.

National pay scales rejected

The care review said the ECF should be complemented by national pay scales, which would be tied to progression through the framework.

In its final report last year, the review, led by ex-Frontline chief executive Josh MacAlister, said the scales would “better recognise and reward the development of expertise”, while preventing councils from competing each other for practitioners on the basis of pay.

However, the DfE has rejected national pay scales on the grounds that they risked destabilising existing pay arrangements, which, in most cases, are set by individual councils in line with a national framework negotiated by employers and unions.

“Local government already has a national pay spine which includes job descriptions and grading for child and family social workers to help achieve consistency, transparency and fairness in pay and progression,” the DfE said.

“We do not intend to create new DfE-led pay scales. Nationalising child and family social worker pay and removing a subsection of council employees from local government pay and conditions may be destabilising to councils without having the desired effects.”

DfE wants ‘fairer’ pay

In its separate consultation on measures to reduce the use and cost of agency children’s social in local authorities, the department said it wanted to see “greater national consistency and fairness around pay” for practitioners doing the same role in different councils, whether agency or employed.

This would underpin its moves to place a national cap on council payments to agencies in a way that would reduce locum pay to the level of the average for practitioners doing the same role on an employed basis, once benefits such as holiday and pensions are taken into account.

In its consultation on the strategy, the DfE said that it wanted to explore how councils could recognise progression through the ECF using existing local government pay scales.

To achieve this, it said it would “work with the sector to ensure that current pay rates, job descriptions and grading reflect the challenge of the role and career progression”, and also “look to improve the quality of pay data”, though there are no details as yet on how this process will work.

Framework to be ‘based on key social work skills’

The DfE said the ECF would be based on a framework document “setting out the detailed, comprehensive skills and knowledge needed to support and protect vulnerable children, families and carers at both practitioner and expert practitioner levels”.

This would build on the existing post-qualifying standards for child and family social work (formerly the knowledge and skills statement), last updated in 2018, but also be tied to the proposed national framework setting out what the DfE expects of local authorities in children’s services.

The framework, recommended by the care review, was also issued for consultation last week, proposing four overarching outcomes councils should be aiming to achieve, two “enablers” to support them in doing so and a set of indicators tied to each.

The ECF will also be informed by a set of practice guides, also as recommended by the care review. The DfE said these would “set out what is known from current evidence and practice expertise about how best to achieve the outcomes and deliver against the expectations of the national framework”.

Practice group appointed to develop guidance

The development of the guides and the ECF will be overseen by the children’s social care national practice group, which was set up in October 2022, helped produce the national framework and was also recommended by the care review.

A 16-strong body chaired by chief social worker for children and families Isabelle Trowler and including 13 leaders from local government, national bodies, health, police and schools and two care experienced people, it currently includes no frontline practitioners or social work representatives.

The DfE said it would work with early adopter local authorities to identify the balance between national consistency and local flexibility in the training delivered to social workers on the ECF. It suggested at least some of the programme would be provided by a national training body commissioned by the DfE, with the rest delivered by councils with funding from the department.

With practitioners likely to be assessed at the end of years two and five of the ECF, the DfE said it would design “rigorous, supportive and fair assessment processes, which are integrated into the development and training aspects of the programme”.

In doing so, it said it would learn the lessons of the national assessment and accreditation system (NAAS), introduced in 2018 to test social workers’ knowledge and skills and accredit those who passed, but scrapped last year.

NAAS was delivered through in-person assessment centres and, in bringing the scheme to an end, the DfE said it wanted to move towards a “more sustainable” system, likely involving more remote methods of assessment.

Reserving tasks for expert practitioners

While the DfE has accepted many of the care review’s recommendations in relation to the ECF, it is not clear whether it will take up its proposal to reserve certain social work tasks to those who have become expert practitioners through completing the framework.

Specifically, the review proposed that child protection cases should be managed by expert practitioners, selected based on their experience to date or, in future, through passing the ECF.

“They would provide an experienced and specialist resource to investigate and make decisions about significant harm to children,” said the review.

The DfE has proposed testing the deployment of lead child protection practitioners to manage cases in up to 12 ‘family first for children’ pathfinder areas.

It said they would “have the specific practice skills and experience that social workers need to work directly with families where there is actual or likely significant harm”, but did not specify how they would be appointed or make a link to them having passed the ECF in future, should both initiatives come into force.