Where there has hitherto been one principal body in charge of programmes of professional development for work with children and families, after 31 March there will be four (read our Special Report).
This fragmentation will inevitably raise concerns about a return to silo working, with social work, early years and young people’s services located in separate homes.
And integrated working – the vital enterprise of bringing together different professionals to work in partnership – now sits apart in the Children’s Improvement Board. Given that the government’s own policies to help vulnerable families and tackle social exclusion time and time again stress the importance of multi-agency working, the improvement board’s efforts will be crucial.
It is a sector-led organisation that works on the basis of peer support, but it is driven predominantly by local authorities, so it will need to engage properly with the voluntary sector if it is to create the conditions for genuine partnership.
But aside from the fragmentation of delivery, a number of other concerns have arisen as a result of the CWDC’s closure. The first concern is resourcing. We are told that 92 staff will transfer from the CWDC to the Department for Education’s children and families directorate and the new Teaching Agency.
However, an internal civil service email leaked to CYP Now last week reveals the children’s directorate will receive a 13 per cent budget cut and a reduction in jobs from 436 to 330 over the next financial year – despite the fact the department’s headcount overall will in fact grow, to handle the expansion of academies.
So 92 people will transfer, but it is anyone’s guess how many will remain dedicated to developing the children and families’ workforce. That casts great doubt over the priority given to the issue.
The second concern is the future of social work programmes, which alone accounted for 70 per cent of the CWDC’s budget in the past year. The education department has had 16 months to prepare for the transfer of responsibilities. And yet it has still not confirmed whether it will retain the current social work programmes, which support workers who are newly qualified and at an early stage in their career.
Its inertia on this is baffling, even before you consider that care referrals are reaching record levels, thereby heightening caseloads and stress levels. Social workers need all the support they can get.
The third concern is employer engagement. As a quango that was independent from government, the CWDC sought to involve employers in shaping the content of its programmes. So the succeeding agencies must ensure that any future workforce reform is driven by the experiences of professionals and not devised in an ideological vacuum.
Few things are more important to improving young lives than a well-trained, well-motivated children’s workforce. The changes that are happening right now should be regarded as an opportunity to ensure that goal is achieved.
Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now
