Return to Social Work

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.