New standards for children’s workforce

Induction standards for new entrants to the children’s services workforce were launched last week.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council standards will be implemented in children’s social care services from September.

This will include services, such as social work, residential care and fostering, that are covered by the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s national minimum standards for social care.

A second phase will include pilots to test the wider use of the new standards among Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service staff, foster carers, Connexions services, early years providers and learning mentors.

There will also be a series of local pilots involving the wider children’s workforce.

Professionals new to the children’s workforce should undertake the induction but people who hold a relevant qualification or who have already completed an induction accredited by the council do not need to do so.

The standards replace previous generic social care standards developed by former social care training body Topss England.
Five regional workshops in September will support the implementation of the standards in social care.

The standards