Research in Practice is currently delivering an ambitious project with partners Essex County Council and Kings College, London. Resources are being developed to support social work recruitment, retention and workforce development.
The partnership is working alongside the National Workload Action Group to provide recommendations to the Department for Education (DfE) regarding ways of reducing social worker workload. The overarching aim is to help champion the significance of the social work role and support safe and effective social work practice.
Collaboration with councils
Earlier this year, we put out a call for local authorities to join the Review, Testing and Implementation Network (RTIN), which will play a key part in quality assuring the resources. We are pleased to have had high levels of interest in this opportunity. 22 local authorities are now signed up to the network.
The participating local authorities cover a wide geographical spread across all nine regions of England and vary in their Ofsted ratings. Therefore, we feel confident that those involved in the RTIN will represent diverse social care needs across the country. A range of professionals, including frontline social work practitioners and people with social care experience, will critically appraise the resources to ensure they are relevant for the sector.
In March, Research in Practice and Essex County Council hosted online introductory sessions for RTIN participants. This was an opportunity for them to learn about the project and meet other participating local authorities. The sessions were well attended and attendees shared their initial thoughts, which have been useful reflections for project partners to ensure the network fully benefits from participation.
Next steps
Later this spring, a full and fast-paced timetable of resource testing will begin, planned by Research in Practice and coordinated by Essex County Council. This will include online focus groups to iteratively test the resources, scrutinising aspects such as the relevance of content to practice, digital accessibility and implications for service implementation. The resources will provide guidance to support practitioners and stakeholders to recruit and retain the social care workforce and improve practice in line with Employer Standards Health Checks.
The finalised resources will be made publicly available on the DfE website later this year.
