Written submission to the Social Work Taskforce from The Association of Directors of Children s Services Ltd (ADCS)

Transcription

1 Written submission to the Social Work Taskforce from The Association of Directors of Children s Services Ltd (ADCS) Recommendations for improving training and support for social workers. 1. Media access to the family courts should be kept under review for its impact on the children, families and professionals involved. The sector must explore ways of using this additional opportunity to promote the work of social workers and the status granted to them by the public. 2. We would be supportive of a mandatory post-qualifying period of work-based training before a licence to practice is issued. 3. Initial training must include: Developing personal skills, such as resilience and interpersonal communication Associated skills such as report writing, IT skills and giving evidence in court. 4. We strongly believe that there is scope for specialisation in children s social work at some stage prior to qualification but recognise the need for a coherent social work profession across children and adult services. Areas to be included in specialisation should include: Knowledge of child development Multi-agency working Core set of skills for the children s workforce as defined by CWDC. 5. A funding mechanism to support local authorities in providing statutory placements should be found. 6. Commissioning and funding of the training of children s social workers should be transferred to the CWDC. 7. The review of ICS should not lose the benefits of the practice system on which the ICT tools are based. 8. Any recommendations of the Social Work Task Force should be fully resourced to ensure that support and training is suitable and sustainable in the long term. Introduction ADCS is pleased to offer written evidence to the Social Work Taskforce. Our comments are intended to represent the views of the key employer group for the children s workforce; a single workforce with a single, coherent set of needs. The Association fully supports the key issues identified by the Task Force in their initial report to the Secretary of State and this paper seeks to add some detail of the challenges faced and to propose some solutions where possible. This paper does not outline examples of good practice from individual local authorities as we believe that there are bodies better placed to identify what works, e.g. the centre for Excellence in Outcomes (C4EO) and the Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE). The Association believes that reform of the workforce and of the training, tools and support provided to it should be the focus of the sector s efforts to improve the child protection system and to continue to embed this system within the framework of integrated services for children. This evidence focuses in particular the need to reform the initial training requirements for social workers, to support local authorities in providing continued professional development, and for national attention to be paid to the career and pay structures relating to social work.

2 Well-trained and supported social workers are clearly essential to protecting children from harm and in supporting them and their families to achieve their potential in terms of all five of the Every Child Matters outcomes. The discussion about whether training and support are sufficient to enable individual social workers to perform these tasks must not be focused solely on the hard end of child protection but on all the tasks that social workers are called upon to do. This includes local authority children s and adults services, NHS primary and hospital care, joint teams and multi-disciplinary services, specialist agencies like CAFCASS, independent practices, voluntary and not-for-profit bodies including user-led organisations, private sector companies and private practice. Within local authority, NHS and inter-agency services, social work is often structured in specialist teams focused on child protection, children in care, family support, disabled children, leaving care, children s centres, fostering, adoption and permanence, child and adolescent mental health, youth offending, care management, disability, learning difficulty, substance abuse, mental health and older people. It is important to restate our commitment to a core set of skills for every professional working with children and that all professionals receive training in key areas of practice, allowing for the development of professional specialisms over and above these skills. Given the overarching framework of Every Child Matters, the complex legislative and regulatory context relevant to working with children and families and the multi-agency approach to delivering services, we believe that there is a strong case for the initial social work degree to provide for specialisation on working with children. 1. Training and support 1.1 As is recognised in the 2020 Workforce Strategy, the social work profession represents a sector of the workforce that has previously been neglected in terms of provision for training and support. While the raising the initial social work qualification to degree level has started to have an impact on the quality of recruits into the workforce, there is still much improvement to be made to the content of these courses to ensure that they adequately prepare students for working in a statutory service. Any discussion about modifying the structure or content of social work courses must recognise that such changes do not offer a panacea to the skills and knowledge deficit within social work, nor will the impact be immediate. We are only now starting to see the effect of the raising of the initial qualification to degree level as the first cohort gain sufficient first-hand experience in the workplace to support the content of the courses. This limitation notwithstanding, in our experience, the initial social work degree in its current form does not fully prepare students for working in statutory services. 1.2 Provision of experience in a supervised and supported way is essential both on placements during training and after graduation. We fully support the introduction of Newly Qualified Social Worker status as recognition of the need for graduates to continue to develop in their first year of practice. Similarly, provision for continued professional development for those currently working in the profession is vital to keep skills and knowledge up to date. This paper seeks to outline the challenges involved in ensuring provision of suitable opportunities for all three groups students, newly-qualified and experienced social workers.

3 1.3 Initial Social Work Qualifications Entry Routes The requirements for entering social work degree courses have been criticised as being too low, and as much below those required of candidates for teaching or nursing courses. In fact there is great variation in the A-Level grades required, with the most popular courses requiring much higher grades than the C and D grades quoted in the media. In addition, of course, Masters Level courses already exist for which the entry requirement is a 2:1 undergraduate degree An easy option? The perception that low entry requirements in terms of A-Level attract students who have no intention of becoming social workers on graduation but merely want a degree is not upheld by the General Social Care Council, who report that nearly 80% of social work graduates since 2006 were registered as social workers with GSCC by February This suggests that those who graduate from social work degree courses intend to work as social workers; whether they are prepared to do this work or whether there is sufficient demand for newly qualified social workers is discussed elsewhere in this paper It is important to remember that the entry requirements for a course are only the starting point for those wishing to be social workers and should not, of itself, affect the quality of graduates entering the profession. If the supervision of students, their examination and the demands made on them throughout the course is of sufficient quality, these measures will prevent those incapable of completing the course from qualifying as social workers. While this may not yet be the case (see comments below regarding structure and content of courses) raising the entry requirements will not compensate for these shortcomings Personal Characteristics To be a successful social worker requires more than purely academic abilities and any alterations to the entry requirements for qualifications should reflect the need for a social worker to have the required maturity and resilience for the role that they hope to undertake. Children and young people have a clear expectation of the character and behaviour of a good social worker. These are characterised by fairness, willingness to trust and believe in the child or young person, asking and listening, helpfulness in creating understanding among their peers, not prejudging their needs or characteristics, keeping promises, and ease of contact. 2 These characteristics are not measured by academic qualifications. 1 General Social care Council Raising Standards Social work education in England DCSF 2020 Workforce strategy Evidence Base

4 We would be concerned if the unintended consequence of increasing entry requirements was to reduce the number of mature students or those changing careers later in life applying for courses or those who will bring a more nuanced understanding to the profession. This includes disabled candidates or care-leavers, many of whom choose to enter the profession, but also men, who made up less than 13% of the cohort. However, whilst supporting wider access particularly from people from disadvantaged and vulnerable groups is valuable, this should not undermine the need for a professional identity and exclusivity Experience and maturity The reduction of the age to train as a social worker has not encouraged younger more able students to take up social work and the role requires a level of maturity and life experience. There are financial barriers to those more mature candidates who have personal or family commitments. Part-time degree courses go some way to mitigating the impact of these constraints but there is still scope for further flexibility. 1.4 Course Structure and Content Raising the initial social work qualification to degree level has started to have an impact on the quality of recruits into the workforce. However, there is still much improvement to be made to the content of these courses to ensure that they adequately prepare students for working in a statutory service. While it is hoped that it will have a significant impact, this will take time. In our experience, undergraduate courses do not adequately prepare students for work as a social worker and as such, we would be supportive of a mandatory post-qualifying period of work-based training before a licence to practice is issued Course content The range of complex skills required by social workers should not be underestimated. These are very similar to those required to manage large organisations or in complex environments. As testimony to this there is evidence of this in the increasing number of people with a social work background in senior positions in local government and a range of other organisations The body of knowledge needed to practice as a children s social worker is not well enough defined in its own right and as such it is not surprising that degree courses do not produce graduates who are immediately ready to enter the workforce as fully-qualified professionals. However it is also possible to identify omissions from courses of important aspects of child development and particularly in multi-agency working. The need for these skills is discussed further under Specialisation in Para

5 Degree courses do not appear to provide graduates with the opportunities to develop the personal characteristics required of a social worker. In particular graduates demonstrate a lack of resilience or the ability to use effective interpersonal skills. The ability to give reliable and believable evidence in court is also lacking. This may be due to the shortage of high-quality statutory placements which enable students to put these skills into practice. The supply of placements is discussed in Para There are skills outside of the traditional definition of the role of a social worker that are currently required in order to fulfil duties expected of professionals in the workplace. The undergraduate degree/masters programme needs to reflect these daily tasks as well as the knowledge and theory relating to the work. Graduates are not equipped to work within the statutory sector without extensive training programmes. These include IT and computing skills and the ability to write clear and detailed reports. The importance of written and IT skills is increasing with the introduction of IT systems to support recording of case notes and details. Employers report that these skills are not sufficiently developed in new graduates We are concerned that the rapid changes in practice and policy in children s social work and across the children s sector may have affected the quality of the content of degree courses, as those teaching and delivering courses do not have direct experience of the new framework in which children s social workers operate. Closer collaboration between employers and course providers would mitigate this impact Specialisation We strongly believe that there is a very good argument for specialisation with the initial social work qualification in the last year of an undergraduate degree We agree with the reasoning behind Lord Laming s recommendation for mandatory placements in statutory agencies working with children for anyone qualifying as a children s social worker. However, we believe that specialisation in the second year of the undergraduate degree would risk losing the coherence of social work as a profession across adults and children and much of the understanding of the family context in which children live would be lost. It is important to establish a balance between ensuring that social workers all share a core set of skills whatever age group they go on to work with, and the need for children s social workers to fully appreciate the different framework in which children s services operate Social work with children is part of a wider set of interventions and support provided by a wide range of professionals. This multi-agency context is different from, though with some similarities to, the context for adult social work. This is in part due to the Every Child Matters

6 framework which, rightly, encourages all professionals working with children to have concern for every ECM outcome. All professionals should be aware of their impact on all these outcomes, how to refer a child for specific support in achieving any one of them and how they interrelate to affect the lives and prospects of all children. In line with the Bercow review into provision for children with speech, language and communication needs and countless serious case reviews, the ability to work in a multi-agency context is vital to successfully protecting children. As such, training in the core skills needed by the entire children s workforce, for example in child development, and in collaborative working must be included within a specialised part of the initial qualification The Children s Workforce Strategy for 2020 recognised the need for a core set of skills for the children s workforce, that were applicable across the different professions working with children. The Children s Workforce Development Council is currently developing the Integrated Qualifications Framework (IQF), which will be ready in 2010, and which will support the drive for a better qualified, more flexible workforce by bringing coherence, portability and common standards to the different qualifications and qualification routes currently available to people in different occupations within the workforce. Any recommendations concerning changes to the training and development of social workers should take these developments into account and included in any specialisation within the initial degree course The differences between adult and children s social work, and in particular child protection, are most apparent on placements and it is important that those who wish to work with children in the statutory sector are provided with the opportunity to experience such work while still students. Specialisation between children s and adults social work during the qualification period would go some way to ensuring that these opportunities can be offered The quality and quantity of statutory placements The current provision of high-quality placements with statutory agencies is not sufficient to meet the needs of the current cohort of social work students, and particularly if students wish to specialise in working with children. This is, in part, due to a lack of commitment from employers. Supporting high-quality placements requires substantial amounts of time from experienced social workers and managers but local authorities do not receive any recompense for supplying such placements. When payment for teaching placements was introduced the quality of placements and the commitment of supervisors increased dramatically a similar solution for social work may well have a similar effect A centrally funded post of placement manager in every local authority, charged with organising and allocating placements, would prevent the provision of placements being affected by budget cuts. These posts

7 do exist in many authorities but are vulnerable due to not fulfilling a statutory function Alternatively local authorities could be contracted to provide a pro-rata number of placements based on their workforce, taking account of vacancy rates. This would need to be supported by dedicated training grant funding, which should include funding to increase the number of practice teachers and to backfill posts taken up by training. 1.5 Supply and regulation of courses There is insufficient communication between the higher education institutions, the General Social Care Council and employers in the statutory sector to ensure that the number, quality and consistency of social work graduates meet requirements. In particular there is insufficient co-ordination between local institutions and employers to ensure that the courses meet local needs. There is no effective way for employers to influence the commissioning and provision of HEI training, unlike the relationships between the NHS and the Royal Colleges with HEIs Supply of courses and places is currently open to pressures of supply and demand from potential students, but not from employers, due to the financial incentives to boost student numbers There have been many comparisons with the provision of training for teachers and social workers in recent months and we strongly believe that the regulation and supply of social work degree courses would benefit from a similar structure to that of teaching. The current position does not compare with the role that OFSTED play with teacher training. Courses are commissioned by GSCC and funded by HEFC. In teaching places are commissioned and funded by TDA and inspected by OFSTED The work of CWDC is highly valued by employers for their work in developing the workforce. They are not alone, however, in the field of social worker training and workforce planning the General Social Care Council and Skills for Care and Development also have a role to play. We would argue that this duplication does not provide value for money or allow a comprehensive approach to developing the children s workforce. Our position is that commissioning and funding should move to CWDC so that it parallels TDA These changes, alongside other changes proposed by ADCS to DIUS in their review of the sector skills councils, would bring together all the major groups involved in supporting children, young people and families outside the school setting into a single body. It would enable strategic planning to take place across professional boundaries so that a common workforce with a common language, common understanding and common expectations can be developed. There

8 would be a single, non-school body with which employers, employees and Government could engage. There would be economies of scale and efficiencies in planning. The resulting body would not be so large as to make management remote and unwieldy. 1.6 Newly Qualified Social Worker status We fully support Lord Laming s recommendation that newly qualified social work graduates should be entitled to, indeed required to, undertake at least a year of practice-based work experience, with limited caseloads and a high level of supervision to ensure that they are adequately skilled to perform the role. As previously highlighted, we do not believe that the current course content sufficiently prepares graduates to practice alone. Creating a Newly Qualified status would provide a short-term solution to this inadequacy as well as setting the standard for the granting of a licence to practice at a higher level than currently. We also support consideration of a more formal structure to a newly qualifying period, culminating in the issuing of a licence to practice after the post-qualifying year. This could include the collection of continuing professional development credits through demonstrating a commitment to taking responsibility for one s own learning and improvement. This would be analogous to the system used in the legal profession. We would also advocate a guaranteed number of training days for NQSWs. 2. Tools and Support 2.1 Supervision and caseloads for Newly Qualified Social workers Two thirds of newly qualified social workers responded to a survey stating that they did not feel that their degree adequately prepared them for working as a social worker. Supporting social work graduates through the provision of high levels of supervision and limited caseloads is vital to preparing graduates for the realities of the role. Cases allocated to newly-qualified social workers should be limited by complexity of individual cases as well as a limit on the number of cases Sufficient supervision should allow for a gradual progression towards a full caseload by the end of the newly-qualified period. This will allow graduates to gradually embed the theory learnt during their course into their standard practice. Supervision should include the opportunity to discuss individual cases in detail. It is important to recognise that line managers may not be best placed to hold these kind of supervisions and there may be scope for experienced but non-managerial social workers to take on a mentoring role, alongside managerial supervision. Such a role would also contribute to the continuing professional development of social workers on the front-line. (see Para 3.2)

9 2.1.3 Newly qualified social workers starting work in a statutory agency benefit greatly from an in-depth induction process. As previously noted, social workers can be asked to perform their role in a number of settings and alongside other agencies. It is important that induction covers all services provided to children by the authority and within the area, as social workers are increasingly lead professionals, holding budgets and arranging specialist services for children and young people outside of the social care service The capacity of first line managers to support and supervise their practice development, a failure by employers to incorporate this as part of their workforce planning and the perception of relative stress and risk in different areas can have a massive impact on newly-qualified social workers. As a result newly qualified staff are likely to be involved in short term and highly risky activity with more experienced staff gravitating to more planned work. The lack of a consultant route for social workers or relative pay measures means many more experienced staff chose either management or roles in areas such as adoption services which may promote similar career plans by less experienced staff If crisis management and child protection is to be improved we must stop it being staffed by predominately inexperienced social workers who not have the skills to deal with very delicate cases. This requires protection for newly qualified social workers as described above, but also action on the career paths available to more experienced professionals to attract them to stay at the frontline and develop their skills in this area as discussed in Para ICS We recognise that good process is central to good practice in meeting the needs of children, young people and their families ICS is a practice system which needs to be supported and delivered by practitioners who have the right skills, knowledge, experience and time to apply, and reflect on those processes. The supporting technology, however, has not been helpful and indeed has become a hindrance to many social workers There is significant concern around the ICT used to support the ICS and e-caf process. The solutions procured locally do not properly reflect the demands of the users social workers. The failure of providers to recognise the frequent need to repeat information across a number of records for example parental information for siblings results in a large amount of time being spent entering data repeatedly. The format of the electronic record systems varies across authorities but many raise the same concerns, that the tick-box format does not encourage analysis or evaluation of cases. The Association is deeply appreciative of

10 the Task Force s recognition of and swift action to mitigate this problem We advocate that the focus now needs to be on improving the skills, capabilities and competence of the workforce to use the practice system as a toolkit, not to follow it slavishly as a process. Many of our current difficulties seem to arise from a slavish following of process and a focus on compliance that is divorced from thinking, feeling and understanding approaches to children and young people and families needs. The system also does not encourage professionals to assess risk or promote the use of critical thinking to inform reflections Mitigating these effects will require a relaxation of the compliance standards relating to the ICT element of ICS currently demanded by central government. ADCS is concerned that the cost and responsibility for updating ICS or for providing a more useable system will fall to local authorities. Governmental support for development and procurement must materialise. 2.3 Supporting Continued Professional Development As previously mentioned, the body of knowledge required to practice children s social work is not well-defined, nor is it static. The changes to legislation, regulations and practice in the past five years alone demonstrate the necessity of providing opportunities for practicing social workers to update their skills Clear career paths for those more experienced and skilled social workers should be created and promoted to prevent the loss of skills at the front-line The skills required to manage and supervise trainee or newlyqualified social workers in particular should be acknowledged. Managing social workers is not the same as being a social worker, nor is it identical to managing any other part of the workforce. The need for reflection and analysis and to promote those skills in others requires dedicated training and development. While some local authorities provide this, it is not uniform, and it is often not tailored specifically to social work managers. Improving the standard of first-line managers would also serve to drive performance management of social workers within every organisation There is a role for the Children s Workforce Development Council or the Centre for Excellence to develop definitions of what makes a good social work manager and programmes of training and support.

11 2.3.5 There are LAs who have made considerable progress in developing and deploying their workforce. The essential ingredients are well known and include some or all of the following: organisational stability and coherence which gives staff a sense of security and confidence in their organisation effective leadership and management which is visible, committed and demonstrably engaged with work at the front line systems which develop staff and enable them to see clear career progression a culture which promotes learning and which is able to manage performance, mistakes and problems without resorting to cultures of blame strong leadership on an inter-agency basis through the Local Safeguarding Children Board and Children's Trust arrangements, which has visibility to practitioner staff. They see their senior managers and leaders working together realistic self-assessment within which problems are addressed, accountability is clear and it is possible for staff to have the difficult conversations on a 360 basis effective leadership from the Political leaders of the organisations Clearly some of the above conditions are out of the scope of the senior leadership of Children s Services within a given authority, or indeed the scope of Task Force. However there are some practical steps that could be taken to ensure that practicing social workers are given suitable opportunities to continue to develop their knowledge and skills post-qualification. 3. Resources 3.1 The resource implications of the demands for suitable support and development for both newly qualified and experienced social workers make achieving these goals difficult. Recommendations from the Task Force must address the issue of how any initiative would be funded to ensure that its benefits are sustained for many years. 3.2 The recommendations above regarding provision for newly-qualified social workers are not currently adequately resourced, though most local authorities have found it necessary to make such provision due to the unpreparedness of graduates for working in a statutory agency. The reduction of caseloads and the time required to provide suitable supervision both have a knock-on effect on the capacity to deliver statutory services. Limited caseloads result in higher caseloads for more experienced workers, while managerial resources are taken up by supervision. As noted above the provision of statutory placements also carries a financial burden for the host authority. If we are to address the

12 lack of such placements, a new funding model should be found to encourage local authorities to participate. 3.3 A high number of NQSWs can put pressure on more experienced staff to take on higher caseloads, which in turn can lead to a lack of supervision. The Bercow review into speech, language and communication support services found that there were restrictions on the ability to release social workers for training due to capacity, suggesting that staffing levels and resources affect employers ability to promote continued professional development among their staff. 3.4 Where resources are already stretched and vacancy rates and the use of agency staff are high, an authority s capacity to provide CPD can be severely restricted. It will be difficult to incorporate increased CPD opportunities without increases in baseline funding or dedicated grants to support this work. It was unclear from the funding announcements made by the Secretary of State in response to Lord Laming, how much of the funding would be allocated to this issue. 3.5 The 58m investment in the workforce is welcome, but mechanisms for distributing it must ensure that it reaches local authorities who are bearing the costs and is sufficient to meet the demands of providing sufficient supervision and caseloads for all newly-qualified social workers. Those authorities who took part in the pilots should be asked to provide estimates of the resources required if they have not already been asked to do so. 3.6 Alterations to career structures and presumably therefore salaries must also be properly resourced. The low pay is one of the key factors affecting the status and morale of social workers but to address this without the proper resources will put further pressure on the tight budgets of local authority Children s Services departments and disrupt organisational stability. 3.7 All of the above financial pressures, if unmet, will only serve to increase the resourcing challenges faced by local authority children s services departments. It is important to bear in mind that the tragic death of baby Peter has caused increased pressure on referral and assessment units as well as support services. The recession too continues to increase the demand for our services. 4 Public Perception 4.1 Much has been said in recent months regarding the public perception of the social care professions, and recent research published by The Lancet 3 suggests that many of these perceptions are shared by some of the wider 3 Recognising and responding to child maltreatment - Ruth Gilbert, Alison Kemp, June Thoburn, Peter Sidebotham, Lorraine Radford, Danya Glaser, Harriet L MacMillan.Published Online thelancet.com December , DOI: /S (08) ]

13 children s workforce. The perception that social care interventions can do more harm than good, that professional judgements are influenced by targets, or the converse, that social workers are too trusting and committed to keeping families together, all have an impact on the work of social care professionals and managers. It is clear from the contradictions inherent in these perceptions that the work of children s social care is not well understood in the public sphere. 4.2 The most obvious impact, and the most cited, is the impact on the recruitment and retention of social workers; both in specific localities that receive media coverage of incidents, e.g. Haringey, but also a national effect on the numbers of people joining the profession, and increased pressure on those already in post. 4.3 While the impact on recruitment and retention is worrying, the impact of public perceptions on child protection work in particular must be more significant, if safeguarding really is everyone s business. The gap between the number of children suffering abuse and neglect and those receiving specific child protection services, as reported by The Lancet, suggests that a lack of faith in the social care system affects the likelihood of a referral being made, for example by GPs and teachers, and thus appropriate services being provided. If, as The Lancet concludes, these attitudes are frequently held by members of the wider children s workforce, a failure to address these perceptions will have an enormous impact on driving forward a multi-agency approach to child protection. Wider community perceptions are also relevant to the attempts to provide services to hard-to-reach families, if members of the community are reluctant to report their concerns. The sector must work to reverse these perceptions, and in particular, those held by other professionals working with children to ensure that the approach to children s social work is truly multi-agency. 4.4 It has been suggested that openness in Family Courts could lead to greater public understanding of the complexities of care proceedings. We have some empathy with this view, but the protection of children and their families must remain the priority. Media access to the courts must be kept under review. At the same time, the sector must seek to use this new opportunity to raise public awareness of social work and the status of those who practice it. Any queries regarding this response should be addressed in the first instance to Robert Belli, Administrative Officer, ADCS (e) robert.belli@adcs.org.uk.