This best practice guide highlights initiatives by local authorities and the independent sector to support their employees, or potential employees, to qualify as social workers.  For the first time it brings together the experience and knowledge of people who have run or participated in GYO schemes over many years. Topics covered include: the Learning Organisation, addressing diversity, types of GYO, supporting students and working whilst studying. The Appendices include examples of a workforce development strategy and a GYO Student Contract.

The Toolkit has been jointly produced by the GSCC and the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College London (KCL). 

I have advised a number of organisations about developing their workforce and I am happy to recommend this publication. A really useful toolkit which should inform the workforce strategy of all organisations who employ social workers. The Social Work Task Force Final Report highlighted the problems of recruitment and retention of social workers. This publication provides examples and evidence about the benefits of making a strategic investment. 

The Barnet Graduate Social Care Trainee Scheme which has been running for several years is an excellent example of strategic thinking and making an investment which promotes best practice in social care.

I would suggest that a further research project is required to compare the expenditure, benefits and opportunity costs of overseas recruitment campaigns and grow your own social worker schemes.   

The toolkit is available for download here A hardcopy of the toolkit can be obtained by emailing: GYOtoolkit@gscc.org.uk

Tags: Grow Your Own, gscc, Kings College London, toolkit, trainee social workers, workforce development, workforce engagement, workforce strategy

Confused about the many organizations responsible for improving social work services? Welcome to our guide to the key players in the social care sector in England and the surprising range of organisations who have an influence on social work and social policy developments.

Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) – www.adcs.org.uk

ADCS is the national leadership association in England for statutory directors of children’s services and other children’s services professionals in leadership roles. The ADCS Virtual Staff College promotes the professional development and competence of all staff working in the strategic management and operational delivery of education and children’s services in local authorities and their stakeholders. The College works in partnership with other organisations to deliver professional development opportunities, seminars, courses, activities and other tools to meet the needs of public service professionals.

Association of Directors of Adult Services (ADASS) – www.adss.org.uk

ADASS represents all the directors of adult social services in England. It evolved from the former ADSS (Association of Directors of Social Services) when responsibilities for adults and children’s services within top tier local authorities were split between two new departments – one for adults and one for children.

British Association of Social Workers www.basw.co.uk

BASW is the largest association representing social work and social workers in the UK. BASW offers support and advice and publishes The Code of Ethics for Social Work, which sets the professional standard to which all BASW members subscribe.

CSIP – http://www.csip.org.uk/

The Care Services Improvement Partnership supports positive changes in services and in the wellbeing of vulnerable people with health and social care needs. CSIP publishes the most accessible, comprehensive and free eBook on Commissioning.http://www.icn.csip.org.uk/betterCommissioning/index.cfm?pid=858 

Children’s Workforce Development Council – http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk

CWDC exists to improve the lives of children, young people, their families and carers by ensuring that all people working with them have the best possible training, qualifications, support and advice. It also helps children and young people’s organizations and services to work together better so that the child is at the centre of all services.

Children’s Workforce Network(CWN) www.childrensworkforce.org.uk

CWN is a strategic body, bringing together the relevant Sector Skills Councils and other partners. It is an Alliance committed to creating and supporting a world-class children’s workforce in England.

Members of the Children’s Workforce Network

Children’s Workforce Development Council – www.cwdcouncil.org.uk

Cultural and Creative Industries Skills • www.ccskills.org.uk

General Social Care Council – http://www.gscc.org.uk/

General Teaching Council for England – www.gtce.org.uk

Improvement & Development Agency – www.idea.gov.uk

Lifelong Learning UK – www.lifelonglearninguk.org

National College for School Leadership – http://www.ncsl.org.uk/

Nursing and Midwifery Council – www.nmc-uk.org

Skills for Health – http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/

Skills for Justice – http://www.skillsforjustice.com/

SkillsActive – www.skillsactive.com/

Training & Development Agency for Schools – http://www.tda.gov.uk/

Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) – www.csci.org.uk

CSCI inspects and reports on care services and councils to improve social care and stamp out bad practice. An invaluable resource if you need to check out a care home or care agency.

Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform  – http://www.berr.gov.uk/

BERR works to create the conditions for business success and help the UK respond to the challenges and ensure business success in an increasingly competitive world.

Department for Children, Schools and Families – http://www.dfes.gov.uk/

DCSF aims to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up.

Department of Health – http://www.dh.gov.uk/

DH provides health and social care policy, guidance andG

Guidestar UK – www.guidestar.org.uk

A free and comprehensive website providing a source of high quality information on more than 167000 UK registered charities

Improvement & Development Agency – http://www.idea.gov.uk/

The IDeA works for and leads local government improvement to enable councils to better serve the community. Councils are supported and challenged and good practice is disseminated. The IDeA also promotes the development of local government’s management and workforce. The IDeA is owned by the Local Government Association

International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) – www.ifsw.org

IFSW is a global organisation striving for social justice, human rights and social development through the development of social work, best practices and international cooperation between social workers and their professional organisations.

Joint University Council for Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC) – http://www.juc.ac.uk

JUCSWEC is a representative body of UK Universities involved in delivering social work education and provides an important forum for profile raising, information sharing, advocacy and strategic planning for social work practice and education. It has made significant contributions to the review of social work in England (Options for Excellence) and Scotland (21st Century Review). The current chair is Michael Preston-Shoot (University of Bedfordshire). JUCSWC have published a Code of Ethics for Social Work and Social Care Research.

Learning and Skills Council (LSC)- http://www.lsc.gov.uk/

The Learning and Skills Council have a single goal: to improve the skills of England’s young people and adults to ensure a workforce of world-class standard. The LSC is committed to improvement of the further education and training sector to raise standards and to make learning provision more responsive to the needs of individuals and employers. Information is provided about financial support for learners and LSC publish a useful jargon buster

Learn To Care www.learntocare.org.uk

Learn to Care represents people engaged in the management and implementation of workforce development in the personal social services.

Making Research Count – http://www.uea.ac.uk/swk/MRC_web/public_html/

Making Research Count is a national collaborative research dissemination initiative, established by a consortium of nine Universities and developed by regional centres. These university based regional centres have formed collaborative partnerships with member agencies, to promote and develop knowledge-based practice and improve services in social work, social care and its interface with health and education. Each regional centre has established a unique approach to knowledge based practice based on the needs of local partnerships. The network has brought together the Universities of Bedfordshire, Brighton, Central Lancashire, East Anglia, Keele, King’s College London, Salford, York, the Open University and their social care and health agency partners. 

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) www.philanthropycapital.org/

NPC was set up by a group of City financiers to provide independent advice on charity giving for wealthy individuals and foundations. The founders believe that providing donors with information on the results achieved by charities — and helping charities themselves to get better at focusing on how they change lives — could help to create change. They share a desire to make a positive difference: whether that is through understanding the root causes of societal problems, discovering excellent charities and helping them get the funds they deserve, or helping donors maximise the impact of their donations. NPC have developed criteria for assessing highly effective charities, find out which charities have met this standard so far.     

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) – http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/

Oftsted inspects and regulates to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. The new Ofsted brings together the wide experience of four inspectorates to make a greater difference for every child, and for all young people and adult learners, in England. Ofsted inspect an extensive range of services including: child minders and nurseries, early education, children’s social care, adoption and fostering, Cafcass, schools, teacher training providers, training providers for international students and education ansd training providers funded by DCFS and other government departments.

Research in Practice – http://www.rip.org.uk/

Research in practice supports evidence-informed practice (EIP) with children and families and is the largest children and families research implementation project in England and Wales. Established in 1996 it is a department of The Dartington Hall Trust, it is run in collaboration with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, the University of Sheffield and a network of over 100 participating agencies in the UK.

Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)  – http://www.thersa.org/

For more than 200 years, the RSA has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. Their approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. The tradition lives on in the free events programme which provides a rich and diverse platform for leading public thinkers. 

Skills for Care – www.skillsforcare.org.uk

Skills for Care are the Sector Skills Council who work in consultation with employers, education and training providers, service users and carers, Skills for Care aims to modernise adult social care in England, by ensuring qualifications and standards continually adapt to meet the changing needs of people who use care services.

Skills for Care and Development (SfC&D) – www.skillsforcareanddevelopment.org.uk

The Sector Skills Council for social care, children and young people’s workforces in the UK. It is an Alliance of 5 organisations: Care Council for Wales, Children’s Workforce Development Council, Northern Ireland Social Care Council, Scottish Social Services Council, and Skills for Care. SfC&D is licensed by government to represent the interests of some 60,000 employers and 1.6 million workers across the UK. These staff are employed by a range of organisations – both public authorities and independent organisations, often commissioned by the public sector to deliver social care services but sometimes acting directly for people who receive the services.The Alliance works closely with service users and carers, education and training providers, national stakeholders and the health sector to develop an appropriately skilled and qualified workforce to meet the UK’s current and future social care needs.

Skills for Health – www.skillsforhealth.org.uk

Skills for Health are the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the UK health sector. They cover the whole sector and aim to develop solutions that deliver a skilled and flexible UK workforce in order to improve health and healthcare.

Social Care Institute for Excellence – www.scie.org.uk

SCIE aims to improve the experience of people who use social care by developing and promoting knowledge about good practice in the sector. Using knowledge gathered from diverse sources and a broad range of people and organizations, SCIE has developed an extensive resource bank which is shared freely, supporting those working in social care and empowering service users. Check out the audit tools available at the People Management website.   

Social Enterprise Coalition -  http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/

The UK portal for social enterprise information and resources. Social enterprises are profit-making businesses set up to tackle a social or environmental need. The social enterprise movement is inclusive and extremely diverse, encompassing organisations such as development trusts, community enterprises, co-operatives, housing associations, ‘social firms’ and leisure trusts, among others. These businesses are operating across an incredibly wide range of industries and sectors from health and social care, to renewable energy, recycling and fair trade.

Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP) – www.swap.ac.uk

SWAP is the UK subject centre for social policy and social work, one of the Higher Education Academy’s 24 discipline based centres. SWAP aims to enhance the student learning experience by promoting high quality learning, teaching and assessment. SWAP has a lot of useful resources to download including publications, teaching resources, digital learning and themed resources.

Social Workers Educational Trust (SWET) www.socialworkerseducationaltrust.org

Established by BASW in 1972 the Social Workers’ Educational Trust supports qualified social workers to develop their knowledge, skills and practice. Research is encouraged into social work practice and education. SWET provides small grants to individuals undertaking post-qualifying studies and more substantial research scholarships are awarded annually through open competition

Check out our jargon buster if you are still puzzling about the differences between a sector skills council and a regulator. The Big Question -  has the separation of adult and children’s services, the development of new Trust arrangements and the division of responsibilities for social care regulation and workforce development contributed to the vision for “joined up” services across the care sector?

Post a Comment below or Contact Us to suggest other useful organisations for the resource bank.

Tags: adas, adcs, basw, csci, csip, cwdc, cwn, dfes, doh, gscc, ifsw, jucswec, ofsted, scie, skills for care, skills for health, swap

Tags: grants and scholarships, post qualifying education and training, social workers educational trust, swet

The GSCC is the social care workforce regulator and “guardian of standards” for the social care workforce in England. It is responsible for regulating the codes of practice, the Social Care Register and qualifying and post qualifying social work education and training.

The Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers and Employers describe the standards of conduct and practice within which employers of social care workers and staff should work. The codes require that employers adhere to the standards set out in their code, support social care workers to meet their professional responsibilities and take appropriate action when workers do not meet expected standards of conduct. The codes mean that the social care sector has similar regulation to doctors and nurses.

Registered social care workers who breach the codes could be removed from the Social Care Register, while employers who break them could face sanctions.

A workshop at the recent GSCC Annual Conference gave an interesting insight into what happens when social workers breach the code and are reported for misconduct.

The work of the GSCC’s Conduct Group centres around maintaining and raising professional standards to ensure that applicants to, and people on, the Social Care Register:

• are suitable to be a registered social worker 

  work safely in social care

  are held accountable for their practice and conduct

Is the regulation of Conduct working?

Between 1st April 2003 and 31st March 2008 the work of the Conduct Group has led to:

214 refusals to join the Social Care Register

60 registrations with conditions

14 removals from the Social Care Register

16 admonishments placed on the registrants’ public record

39 Interim Suspension Orders

Emerging Trends

Almost half of all referrals from employers relate to professional practice

Although there are proportionately fewer referrals relating to professional boundaries a high percentage of Conduct Committees held relate to this matter

Sections 2(striving to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers) and 5 (uphold public trust and confidence in social care services) are the sections of the codes of practice most commonly breached.

(source GSCC 2008)

Download the full Codes of Practice here

http://www.gscc.org.uk/Good+practice+and+conduct/Get+copies+of+our+codes

WITNESS supports people who use services who are reporting abuse by social workers. This includes:

Emotional support to help deal with the impact of conduct proceedings

Helping communications and providing support at meetings with lawyers and the GSCC

Preparation for and support at Conduct Committee hearings

Post hearing follow up/debriefing

Reporting to the GSCC on client experiences 

WITNESS is the professional boundaries charity and aims to promote safe boundaries between professionals and the public. They provide a range of services for professionals and the public and work to improve public protection through policy and influencing work. http://www.popan.org.uk/

Professional boundaries are high on the list of issues reported to disciplinary hearings

Skills around boundaries are not currently taught to social workers

Many employers have no clear policy about professional boundaries

Workers often do not know where the line should be drawn.

(source GSCC 2008)

Social services department, services registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), and further types of services are expected to be in a position to comply with the Code of Practice for Employers of Social Care Workers. The GSCC suggest that employers:

Use the code for employers as a ‘tick list’ for a comprehensive audit of policies.

In larger organisations, make sure relevant senior colleagues such as the human resources manager, training manager and elected members or board are aware of the codes and their potential impact on the organisation. In smaller organisations, make sure all senior colleagues are aware of the codes and their potential impact.

Ensure that sufficient copies of the code are available for all staff, make sure they have received and read them, and try to have a session where the issues are discussed.

Introduce the codes to new staff at induction and have a discussion with them then about what they mean. The codes contain nothing that cannot be put into practice straight away by social care workers.

The codes can be used in the performance appraisal process as a measurable target for staff and managers. Incorporating the codes into people’s work plans and objectives will be a good way of getting them to think about the codes.

Get staff to carry the credit card-sized codes around with them and ask staff to explain to service users what the codes are, at an appropriate moment.

People who use services should have access to the codes, which are available for download and to order by post in a variety of formats from the GSCC.

 

It remains to be seen how employers, who do not adhere to the codes of practice, will be sanctioned through the Conduct process.

 

Tags: admonishments, codes of practice, gscc, popan, professional boundaries, professional practice, regulation, social care register, social workers, witness

The survey of 500 care workers carried out by Skills for Care found only 39% felt their work was appreciated and many felt that there was little understanding of the value of their hard work.

“This survey is the largest ever study of adult social care workers in England and it has revealed that we have some difficult challenges ahead of us over the next decade,” says Skills for Care Chair Donald Hoodless.

“The fact that a sizeable majority of the one million people who work in social care in England feel their work is undervalued reinforces the problems we have in making sure their work with some of the most vulnerable people in our society is properly recognised by the general public. “We are going to need more and more care workers to meet the needs of an aging population and the general public’s negative view of care work means it will be difficult for the sector to recruit people returning to work or young people to replace those staff. It is good news that the workforce is happy in their work but it does raise serious questions about whether they have the skills to cope with the significant changes in our sector, particularly with the greater emphasis on personalised care for a more articulate group of people who use services some of whom are now directly employing their own staff.”

The adult social care workforce accounts for nearly 5 per cent of England’s workforce, spread over more than 25,000 employers. Skills for Care members are drawn from groups representing public, private and voluntary sector care employers, along with representatives of staff, trainers, service users and informal careers. Social care includes residential care, domiciliary care and social work with all its specialists.

The Department of Health have invested significant sums through Skills for Care making sure that staff can access the training they need to do their job to the highest standard possible and it’s encouraging that the majority now have NVQ level 2 qualifications and are accessing training and development reviews.

“It’s worth remembering that 80% qualified staff and only 20% with no qualifications at all is almost the exact opposite of the workforce profile we had before Skills for Care invested time, money and strategic thinking into developing a better trained workforce which will ultimately benefit people who use services. But as we increase numbers of trained staff we need to have a full debate about how we make sure we boost the financial incentives for getting a qualification as our research shows there is only a maximum 6% percent difference in pay rates between qualified and non-qualified staff which is far too low.”

“Skills for Care is not complacent about the state of training within the care sector but is encouraged that significant investments in the development of three quarters of a million workers is beginning to deliver a well trained workforce able to meet the needs of a highly diverse group of people who use services across England.” http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/view.asp?id=966

Tags: happy in their work, social care staff, undervalued by the public

Find out what post qualifying social work courses are available in England by consulting the National PQ Directory available on line through the following link http://www.practicelearning.org.uk/Post_Qualification_(PQ)/PQ_Directory.html

A more detailed guide to the London Post Qualifying Programmes is available to download from http://www.skillsforcarelondon.org.uk/downloads/PQ-Directory.pdf

Tags: guide to pq courses, marcia white media, pq london directory, pq national directory, shirley ayres consulting, Social Work