Social workers face probationary year in reforms

Ministers have admitted it will take “years” to transform the demoralised social work profession and regain public trust in their work as they unveiled sweeping reforms to the sector.

All social work graduates will soon have to complete a probationary year on the job in order to obtain a licence to practice.

A Royal College will also be established to speak up for the profession in troubled times and have a say in qualification levels and training.

Under current arrangements, a new graduate could find themselves in a challenging front line job with a full caseload in their first week.

However there will be no new money available to help in the restructuring of the profession to simplify the grading of the job on a nationally recognised scale. It will also be for local authorities to find the money to pay for a promise that senior social workers will be able to earn more while staying on the front line, rather than disappearing into management.

The reforms were recommended by the government-appointed social work taskforce, which was set up in the wake of the Baby P tragedy to improve the quality of social work and increase the professional standing of staff.

There was public outcry after it emerged the 17-month old was on the at risk register and seen on 60 separate occasions by social workers and other professionals. He died of his injuries in August 2007.

Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, said he hoped some good would come out of the tragedy.

“This is a watershed moment. We are going to write to every social worker and tell them we accept all the recommendations of the taskforce and write to all local authorities telling them what we expect of them.

“We reacting in a decisive way and 12 months on from the Baby P tragedy we see a strong and bright future for social work.”

The taskforce was chaired by Moira Gibb, chief executive of Camden Council. Its members included Deidre Sanders, the Sun’s agony aunt.

Ms Gibb said she expected the government to “put its shoulder to the wheel” and make sure the reforms are implemented. Many will be for local authorities to enact.

“Social work is a difficult job and it’s not for everyone. So we need to be more careful about who we select. There is also no point in training people well if we make the job undoable, so we need to create an environment where people re supported and allowed to do well. Employers need to sign up to standards and conditions other professionals expect.”

Among the other recommendations accepted by ministers were:

* Ensuring universities raise the bar for social work degrees, with a practice-based Masters qualification aimed at keeping the skills and specialist knowledge of all social workers up to date

* Creating a new campaign to improve the public understanding of social work

* Developing a new system to help employers to better plan and forecast the demand and workload of their social workers.