Return to Social Work
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Local Government Association initiative supports lapsed social workers to return to work.
- Returners receive refresher training, a work placement and help to find a job upon completion
- All of the initial cohort are now in employment, with the scheme being expanded this year
ACTION
The average children's social work career is just seven years, half the duration of a nurse or teacher. A key factor behind this statistic is the difficult nature of the work, but many leave the profession for career breaks only to struggle to return to it later due to the speed with which legislation and practice changes. If they could be helped back into employment, this pool of untapped social workers could go a long way to filling the 5,820 children's social work posts in England currently vacant. To this end, in 2016 the Local Government Association (LGA) launched its Come Back to Social Work programme for 50 children's and adults social workers. The pilot programme was open to professionally qualified social workers who had a lapsed registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) - or previous regulator - and had not practiced for up to five years.
Suzanne Hudson, LGA workforce senior adviser, says the pilot was inundated with applications, but many were by people who had been out of work for more than five years and so didn't meet the criteria.
"Some candidates had two years experience and some 10 years," she says. "One had been an assistant director.
"In general, they were women who had put their careers on hold for children and family commitments. Some had moved due to a partner finding work in another part of the country, while others had decided they wanted to leave social work.
"One returner had taken time out to help raise her grandchildren but wanted to come back to give herself a purpose."
For the pilot, candidates were able to apply from across England, but this created logistical challenges particularly around travelling to training events and work placements and fitting this around family commitments, explains Hudson. It is why the follow up programme run in 2017/18 has focused on working with 58 local authorities in three regions - London, Eastern England and West Midlands.
"We aimed to find employers from where candidates lived, which made it much easier for them to find carers for children and elderly relatives," she adds.
"There is a huge demand for experienced practitioners - one council asked for 30 candidates which I wasn't able to give them."
The new programme, renamed Return to Social Work, accepted applications from 100 returning children and adult social workers.
They undertake a training programme of 30 days run by Chinara Enterprises on behalf of the LGA, which provides an overview of the knowledge and skills sets for children's social work and the Professional Capabilities Framework. Current social work legislation and policy, values and ethics, and management of risk and safeguarding are also covered.
Participants undertake a 10-day work placement, in accordance with HCPC regulations.
Hudson explains that upon completion of their training, candidates pick three employers they would like to work for in priority order "which we try to arrange interviews for".
"We've just started the process of ‘matching' candidates with employers but some have already been offered jobs as a result of their placements. Whether they do it inside the process or not, our aim is to find them jobs."
Portable disclosure and barring checks are arranged for candidates to speed up recruitment.
The Return to Social Work programme is now one of four "returners schemes" - others cover civil servants, teachers and allied health professionals - funded through the Government Equalities Office.
The LGA has applied to extend the scheme to a further three regions for the third cohort.
"We would like to run a course for people that have been out for a longer period than five years," explains Hudson. "There were many applicants that were highly qualified, with eight or nine years experience, but were unable to do the training because of the need to do the HCPC registration."
Hudson says a crucial factor in attracting more social work returners is flexible employment practices. Councils that are open to flexible working "will be most attractive to candidates" because they enable them to fit caring responsibilities around work.
She adds: "It's difficult to come back into any profession once you've lost your confidence. We help them to realise the skills and knowledge are still there, it just needs to be applied with different legislation and new cases.
"I don't think social work leaves someone - they end up being called back to it."
IMPACT
Of the initial 50 returners, just four didn't get a job at the end of the pilot because "they didn't feel ready for work and wanted more training", says Hudson.
All have gained employment since then.
