Social worker shake-up plans get green light in Cornwall

A proposed shake-up for social workers has been given the thumbs up by Cornwall Council’s cabinet.

The council says the plans are the latest step to ensure that Cornwall attracts and retains the very best social workers to work with its vulnerable children and families.

The proposals to “reform and develop the children’s social work workforce” come after two disasterous Ofsted reports on the protection of children and young people in the county.

Neil Burden, the council’s lead member for children, said: “This is a very demanding job and we need to ensure that we keep our most skilled and experienced staff on the frontline and have systems in place to enable them to keep adding to their professional knowledge and skills.“ “These proposals, which follow the recommendations of the Munro Review of child protection, will help ensure that we attract and retain the best staff to help protect our most vulnerable children and young people”.

“This is the last of our major ‘fix’ areas. While we have already achieved a lot, we know there is still more to do. He added: This plan sets out a long term solution to what has been a long term problem and I am confident that we will deliver it”.

The council says there are four main proposals in the new strategy : • Reforming the qualification and career pathway for all social workers. This includes the creation of a new advanced practitioner grade to attract and retain the best practitioners in child protection services and a principal child and family social worker role to report the views and experiences of the front line to all levels of management. • Keeping experienced social workers in front line. This involves introducing a performance related pay to those staff who have worked successfully in this role for more than two years. • Providing social workers with the support they need to do the job and achieve the required quality standards consistently.

• Reducing the bureaucratic burden on the Council’s social workers to give social workers more time in direct work with families. Trevor Doughty, Cornwall’s director of children’s services, said: “This strategy is about investing in the knowledge and skills of our social workers and encouraging them to stay on the front line. By providing our social workers with the support they need to do this vital job we will ensure that we fulfil our commitment to making sustainable improvements to safeguarding in Cornwall.”