Introduction
The West London pilot for the recruitment and retention of social workers is a two year project, being undertaken across eight West London boroughs: Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington & Chelsea, and Westminster. The pilot project is intended to use a variety of work streams to promote the education and career pathways of social workers in order to build in much needed permanent staffing arrangements in front line assessment and child protection services.

The project is funded by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and supported by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC).

Projects
The vision for the pilot is to promote a framework where well trained social work graduates are effectively recruited into childcare organisations, and supported through structured career frameworks to further develop their social work practice skills in demanding areas of children’s services. In this vision, the responsibility for education and training is shared between local authority employers and Higher Education Institutions (HEI), professional development is actively supported, and the growth of skill and competence is related to salary structure and job status.

To realise this vision there are five work streams spanning all eight boroughs – each is described briefly below:

Work Stream 1: Partnership with Higher Education Institutions
This aims to create a working partnership between the eight boroughs and a selected group of local HEIs, in order to develop shared ownership of social work learning and education. This work stream incorporates targeted growth of student placements in assessment, child protection, and other front line children’s social work services, and local authority support to HEIs in selection of students, and input on the degree and masters teaching programmes.

Work Stream 2: Development of Leadership and Skills in First Line Managers
This aims to develop the leadership and staff development skills and abilities of team managers and equivalent first line practice management posts in each of the eight boroughs. The work stream incorporates the development of a skills programme which will include a variety of teaching methods including expert speakers, seminars, mentoring and tailored action learning sets, in order to increase the competence of existing managers, and prepare those who wish to become team managers in the future.

Work Stream 3: Framework for induction of Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSW)
This builds on the CWDC framework for the development of standards which outline what NQSWs can expect to receive in terms of support, guidance and professional development during their first year in a social work post. The work stream incorporates the development of a shared induction programme for all NQSWs across the eight boroughs, thus benefiting from economies of scale and cross borough opportunities for staff.

Work Stream 4: A Social Work Career Pathway
This aims to provide an explicit career pathway for social workers to help them develop complex casework skills, or specialist expertise, within a structured framework linked to salary scales. The work stream incorporates development of an agreed competency framework across all eight boroughs, learning and development opportunities, coaching and mentoring and expert input.

Work Stream 5: Enabling the Social Work Role
This aims to find mechanisms to reduce the constraints on the social work role, promote professional autonomy and minimise the bureaucratic processes which take social workers away from direct contact with families. The work stream incorporates the analysis of work flows, accountability structures, devolved decision making and use of social workers time. The pilot may lead to changes in management priorities for staff and promote different ways of working.

More information
The pilot is being led by Andrew Christie Director of Children’s Services in Hammersmith & Fulham and is supported by a small project team based within the borough. The Project Co-ordinator is Kati Maskell (Katharine.Maskell@lbhf.gov.uk). Each project is lead by a senior manager from one of the eight boroughs involved in the project.

The project team are also looking at whether some of the learning points elements from this pilot can be used for the more effective recruitment and retention of adults social workers.

 For more information about the project please click here