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Loading ...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.
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I believe the social work system requires change and this change needs to reflect the ethos and practices of social workers. I truly believe parents need a voice, they need to take more responsibility of their role as a parent and this role needs to be taken seriously. I have developed a program that reflects all of the above it’s teachers parents through understanding them to understand their children as well as implementing the treaties with all involved. We all need to be intent with our fellow practitioners., agencies,teachers because through my 30 years I have noticed nothing other than too many mixed messages. I also believe that within the training their needs to be psychology, therapy, child development, life skills, these are crucial for working with humans .
The proposed two-year support scheme for newly qualified children’s social workers is a positive step toward addressing the challenges faced by practitioners.
As a newly qualified social worker and a slow learner, I believe the extended support would build confidence, provide inclusive learning, and reduce burnout. Dedicated mentors and increased shadowing opportunities would ensure practical growth while alleviating pressure on practice educators.
I recommend personalized learning plans, frequent supervision, and regular feedback to tailor the experience to individual needs. This approach would foster competence, enhance retention, and ultimately improve outcomes for children and families.
NB
Practice Educator big issues escalate.
SO ONCE AGAIN NQSW’s are the problem…?
Look at leadership
Look at personality..
Get empathic workers ..
Get rid of those gluttons who seek power and control they are nit fit to wield it .
Say it like it really is, Joanne, I don’t know you but you clearly see the broken system in it’s hideous and true form. Layers of power hungry gate keeping managers comfortable hiding behind a tck box culture rather than empathic compassionate professionals focusing on the best possible outcomes for our children, young people and families
Fix the system THEN bring this in. You need to retain the experienced workers you’ve already got.
We’ve been promised to be given training to become specialists for years, but there’s no time to train us as we’re too busy with high and complex case loads (despite your all time low “average”).
I was warned not to come into social work and I wish I had listened.
Am I going to look back on my life when I’m on my death bed and think of all I’ve experienced with my days or that I have no life in my days because I’m exhausted from work. Dread annual leave and feel like I’m barely making a difference as all it feels we’re doing is barely meeting statutory performance data and not a balance of what our children actually want.
Thankyou Community Care for this overview and for the links.
Thanks very much, Tom, much appreciated.