The recommendations were set out in the Social Work Taskforce’s report published today. They include reforms to initial and ongoing training, pay reforms, a campaign to improve public understanding of social work and a system to help employers forecast the workload of their social workers.
The government said the changes would be implemented over the next few months, with the help of a Social Work Reform Board to be chaired by Moira Gibb, chair of the Social Work Taskforce. An implementation plan to be published in early 2010 will give details of funding and necessary legislation changes.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: "The comprehensive reform programme announced today is a watershed moment for social workers that promises to transform the future of the profession."
Taskforce chair Moira Gibb said she was delighted the recommendations had been accepted in full. "The profession, knocked by widespread public criticism in individual cases has been low on the esteem and self-belief needed to drive forward the improvements required to make social work the high-quality profession we know it can become," she said. "Working with the building blocks set out in our interim report, we have put forward a comprehensive reform programme, to help transform the social work profession."
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