Supporting Social Work
Following the publication of the Final Report of the Social Work Taskforce, this project has been developed to support the implementation of the recommendations which are best tackled at a regional level, providing joined up solutions and increased consistency across the North East.
This project focuses on four specific areas, each contributing to the development of social work within the region:
Supporting Organisational Health Checks and Benchmarking
The Social Work Reform Board will be writing to every local authority encouraging them to complete their first 'organisational health check' as soon as possible during 2010-11. This is based on a framework to help organisations to assess the 'health' of their organisations in relation to the Task Force recommendations and work towards less variation - which should reduce turnover of social workers within the region thus saving recruitment costs. This project will support each local authority to undertake the health check and collate, analyse and disseminate the findings to support improvement.
Developing and Implementing Regional Codes of Practice
The implementation plan of the Social Work Reform Board identifies 2010-2011 as a 'transition year' in which foundations for the reform programme will be laid. This will include the start of work to establish national requirements for the provision of supervision, practice learning and continuing professional development. The supervision standard is expected to be in place in 2012, practice learning requirements in 2013 and a CPD framework by 2012. This project will enable the North East to develop its own picture of current practice in relation to this area and establish and agree clear principles of good practice. This will put the region in a strong position to implement new requirements as they appear.
Developing and Implementing a Regional Model for Supervision Training
There is a significant level of concern that supervision of social workers is not happening with sufficient frequency and is not of the right quality. Evidence from this region shows that there is a significant gap between the intentions of supervision policies and social workers' actual experience of supervision. This project will support supervisors of social workers to develop their skills in providing high quality supervision which encompasses line management, professional supervision and continuing professional development.
Maintaining a Regional Infrastructure to Support Social Work Developments
The North East has a strong history of collaborative working in relation to social work developments. Effective partnerships have existed between employers, between universities and between employers and universities. As a result the region scores highly on a range of indicators relating workforce and education issues. This project will ensure existing partnership arrangements are maintained (and, where necessary, strengthened) through the coming year in preparation for a transition to a nationally defined model.
Further detailed information regarding the project is available using the link below: