CWDC urges recently qualified social workers to tell all

The Children’s Workforce Development Council wants recently-qualified social workers to share their experiences of practice, to help it develop a pilot programme to increase support for graduates.

CWDC wants to hear from children’s social workers who have qualified since June 2006, as well as employers of children’s practitioners, to inform the pilots for newly-qualified social worker status for children’s practitioners, which are due to start this autumn.

Under the plans, graduates would receive extra supervision and reduced caseloads in their first year, in a bid to tackle burnout and improve practice. The Department for Children, Schools and Families has allocated £21m for the pilots, while the Department of Health is separately developing a similar scheme for adult social workers.

CWDC is offering £500 to each participant, in return for answering an online questionnaire, attending a regional seminar and offering comments on a draft set of standards. The deadline for responses to the questionnaire is 14 February.

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