Memorandum submitted by The General Social
Care Council (GSCC)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. In this memorandum we offer evidence
and advice about ways in which the contribution of registered
social workers and social care workers to services for looked
after children can be enhanced. We cover:
(a) how to improve the supply of qualified staff;
(b) how to ensure that new workers are well supported;
(c) how to ensure that all workers get the training
required;
(d) how to equip social workers with the skills
they need;
(e) how to improve workforce planning; and
(f) how to boost the skills of care workers.
ABOUT THE
GSCC
2. The General Social Care Council (GSCC)
is the workforce regulator for social care in England. We were
set up under the provisions of the Care Standards Act 2000 to
promote high standards of conduct and practice among social care
workers and to promote high standards in their training. We began
by publishing two codes of practice, one for social care workers
and one for their employers. We then opened a register for social
care workers beginning with social workers and social work students.
So far (to 30 May 2008) we have registered 97,000 people—82,000
social workers and 15,000 social work students. The Government's
intention is to register the whole social care workforce over
time and it has announced that it will ask us to open another
part of the register for domiciliary care workers shortly. We
expect then to move on to those working in residential social
care settings and to other groups.
3. We also hold to account registrants who
are judged to have failed to live up to the requirements of the
code of practice and so far have held 38 hearings and removed
17 people from the register. We also ensure that the Higher Education
Institutions which offer courses which lead to the social work
qualification degrees meet the requirements laid down by government.
4. We do not wish to submit evidence about
every matter that is listed in the Committee's terms of reference
for the inquiry. This note of evidence will be restricted to those
matters where the involvement of GSCC with the workforce which
provides services for looked after children, helps to develop
an informed view.
CARE MATTERS:
TIME FOR
CHANGE
5. The GSCC considers itself to be a key
partner in implementing the vision for children's services set
out in Every Child Matters, in Care Matters, The
Children's Plan and now in Building Brighter Futures. We
believe that those who work in social care—particularly
social workers who work with children, young people and their
families—have a crucially important role to play in ensuring
that all our children thrive and that looked after children get
the help and support they need. We share the aspirations of ministers
at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)—and
indeed of the workforce itself—to ensure the skills and
knowledge of children's workers are significantly improved and
that their practice and their conduct are of the highest. We believe
that the spread of registration, the enforcement of the codes
and the development of better training opportunities are a key
part of the improvement programme that is needed.
6. Set out below is a series of comments
on key issues that we think are relevant to the task of improving
services for looked after children.
Ensuring that there is an adequate supply of appropriately
trained workers
7. There is a continuing shortage of qualified
social workers to undertake jobs in children's services departments.
The proportion of vacancies has remained around 9-11%[2]
for some years, much higher than for example the rate of teacher
vacancies which is typically under 1%. It is slightly higher for
children's social workers than for social workers in general.
Average vacancy rates vary between areas, and are particularly
high in London (15%).
8. Some Local Authorities have been forced
to make high use of agency staffing. This can reduce continuity
of contact with social workers for children and families, which
is something they often state as a concern. Indeed, for looked
after children, the value of a social worker acting as the long
term point of contact and continuity can hardly be over-stated.
9. There is increased take up for the new
social work degree compared to the two year diploma course it
replaced, of around 22%. There are about 5,000 students in the
university intake of September 2007 and that for the more popular
courses there were about five applicants for every place. However,
more investment in university places will be needed to increase
the output of trained social workers from these courses to a level
which could begin to make a significant dent in the current vacancy
rate, especially since turnover remains high (typically 12%).
Ensuring that new social workers get extra support
10. It is accepted as good practice for
employers to give extra support to newly qualified social workers.
It is generally understood that a social worker who has just graduated
is not the "finished product". The original design for
the degree assumed three years academic study followed by one
year of consolidation activity in the workplace, supported by
post-qualifying training and learning.
11. Employers vary in the way in which they
support new social workers. Not every new social worker gets all
the support they need and some report that the case loads they
are allocated are too large or too complex and that the supervision
they get is too little or not well managed. Some newly qualified
social workers in children's services say that they can get allocated
difficult protection cases very early in their career. This concern
underlays the proposal in the Options for Excellence review to
develop a Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) status and we are
currently supporting the Children's Workforce Development Council
(CWDC) in their work on behalf of DCSF in developing a pilot NQSW
scheme for social workers in children's services. (Skills for
Care [SfC] are developing a similar scheme for the Department
of Health [DH]). We believe that social workers working with children
need the skills and knowledge to work effectively with adults,
and that social workers working with adults need the skills and
knowledge to work with children and families, so the generic degree—followed
by opportunities for specialisation later—provides the right
balance.
12. The GSCC recognised that there was a
risk that employers might not be willing to take on their full
responsibilities to new workers in an effective way and so we
included words intended to cover the issue in the codes of practice
for social care employers and for employees. The code for employers
specifies that they "Must provide training and development
opportunities to enable social care workers to strengthen and
develop their skills and knowledge".
This includes:
"3.1 Providing induction, training and
development opportunities to help social care workers do their
jobs effectively and prepare for new and changing roles and responsibilities;
3.2 Contributing to the provision of social
care and social work education and training, including effective
workplace assessment and practice learning;"
13. The code for workers includes a provision
stating that they must "be accountable for the quality of
their work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving
their knowledge and skills". (section 6)
Ensuring that employers foster a culture in which
there are continuing professional development opportunities for
all social care workers
14. The GSCC has recommended that the new
Care Quality Commission (CQC), the new service inspection body
whose role is being defined in the Health and Social Care Bill
currently before parliament, should be obliged to make an employer's
compliance with the code of practice a requirement when they inspect
services. We are disappointed that the Government has not taken
this opportunity. Similarly we recommend this is done by Ofsted
in inspections of children's social care provision for which it
is responsible.
15. The GSCC also sets out a requirement
that all social workers, as a condition of their three yearly
renewal of registration, should engage in development activity
to meet a "post registration teaching and learning"
(PRTL) requirement of 15 days or 90 hours. A recent survey of
social workers seeking renewal found that they had undertaken
an average of 280 hours so we are confident that workers are "thirsty"
for learning and development opportunities. We are currently considering
how to revise and update the policy and we are looking at proposals
to make certain subjects compulsory in the PRTL activity and at
other ideas which will help to strengthen PRTL so that it can
be a lever for ensuring that social workers are guided towards
improving their skills in particular areas which are key to the
"Every Child Matters" vision.
Ensuring that social workers are well prepared
for their work with looked after children
16. The new three year degree in social
work was introduced in 2003 in England, replacing the two year
Diploma in Social Work. Whilst it is much too early to make a
full judgement about the new degree, the early indication from
the Government's evaluation of the degree[3]
is that it is delivering the objectives set. The GSCC believes
that the degree provides the initial preparation for social workers,
with the expectation that they undertake further training, as
happens in most professions. We are working closely with DH and
DCSF on strengthening the qualifying and post-qualifying curriculum
to make sure that they continue to meet the needs of working with
children.
17. Practice learning placements are a compulsory
part of the social work degree and are hugely important in developing
the skills of student social workers. The minimum requirement
is 200 days total over the course of the degree (not all in the
final placement). Placements have to provide the opportunity to
undertake statutory tasks and provide two separate client group
settings. It puts a demand on employers for good quality placements
which is greater than ever before. The practice placement system
is a continuing challenge—as it was under the old diploma
system—but CWDC and SfC are working to develop improvements.
18. The GSCC has developed a framework of
qualifications for social workers to extend and develop their
skills and understanding after their initial qualification. This
post-qualifying (PQ) framework has qualifications at three levels—specialist,
higher specialist and advanced—in different specialities
including one for work with children and young people. It is too
early to assess the level of take-up of PQ qualifications, but
there are more PQ courses in Children and Families Social Work
than any other area under the new framework which was introduced
in 1997. There is some funding to support social workers to do
the qualifications but it is limited. Arguably, the current pay
and career framework does not provide a large incentive to social
workers to take further qualifications but there is evidence that
there is a real demand for good training opportunities.
Improving workforce planning
19. There is no single main employer for
social workers although most new social workers go into local
government employment. At UK level the sector skills body Skills
for Care and Development (SfCD) takes the lead, whilst, in England,
two bodies share the responsibility. They are the Children's Workforce
Development Council—for social workers working with children
and young people—and Skills for Care—in respect of
social workers working with adults. There was a unified sector
skills strategy drawn up in 2001 by the predecessor sector skills
body, TOPSS, but the two new bodies are now working on separate
workforce development plans. The support of the relevant government
departments for CWDC and SfC will be crucial in bringing together
the various and varied employer interests so that workforce planning
can be better managed.
Better qualifications for care workers, particularly
workers in children's residential care
20. GSCC has recommended to Government that,
when the social care register is opened to the wider social care
workforce—and particularly to those working in children's
residential care—a requirement is made that these workers
are trained to NVQ Level 3. Existing National Minimum Standards
have included qualifications requirements for staff in relevant
settings but these have not been widely met. Many employees continue
to have qualifications at a level which does not guarantee that
children in residential care are receiving the skilled support
they need.
21. GSCC recommends that the best way to
enforce this level of qualification would be through registration.
This could put a requirement on individuals seeking registration
to have, or to be working towards, a particular level of qualification
and on employers to ensure that they employ, for particular activities,
staff who are qualified and registered.
The contribution that social work practices may
make
22. GSCC welcomes the provision for pilots
of social work practices in the Children and Young Persons' Bill
so that the benefits to children and young people can be evaluated
prior to wider roll out. The GSCC has an interest in how the roles
and tasks of social workers in care planning and in the delivery
and implementation of care plans will be exercised in the context
of social work practices. We are also interested in any new opportunities
this brings to allow social workers and others to undertake more
direct work with children and young people. We understand that,
in practices, registered social workers are likely to engage both
in direct delivery of services and also in supervising arrangements
for delivery. We welcome the emphasis on registration and we agree
that social workers must continue to play a vital role in ensuring
that the statutory duties for children and young people are carried
out in full and to the highest standard.
A ROLE FOR
SOCIAL PEDAGOGY
23. Many aspects of the social pedagogue
approach are already reflected in social work degree courses.
There are social workers in England already using the skills and
methods associated with the social pedagogy approach as practiced
in some other European countries. The issue is more around the
design of service delivery in children's residential care and
the level of funding required. However, we are very keen to support
the planned pilots in children's residential care and to learn
from them.
June 2008
2 Skills for Care Annual Workforce Report 2008. Percentages
based on vacancy rates for "field social workers", 2001-06. Back
3
Based on the draft of the Evaluation of the New Social Work
Degree Qualification in England, commissioned by the Department
of Health, 2004-07. The full report is yet to be published. Back
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