Sector leaders develop collective ambitions for social work workforce

In late September 2024, social work leaders from across England came together at an in-person national workforce roundtable at Social Work England’s office in Sheffield. First convened in 2023, the roundtable is focused on the shared goal of bringing about meaningful and positive change to address the continuing challenges faced by the social work profession.  

In this update, we speak to members of the workforce roundtable to understand more about the aspirations of this work and their reflections on the event. 

Sarah Blackmore, executive director for professional practice and external engagement at Social Work England said:

“Everyone involved in the roundtable is concerned about the continuing pressures on the social work workforce and the impact this may have on the millions of people who use social work services every day across the country.  

As the regulator for social workers in England, it is our priority to protect the public. For this to be a reality we need to see a thriving, sufficient, and sustainable workforce that is fully equipped to practise safely and with up to date knowledge and skills. 

It’s important to have sector-wide discussions focused on both short and long-term ambitions to help encourage more people into social work, whilst retaining the talent we have and enabling fulfilling careers that will last a lifetime."  

The event was attended by over 15 organisations that represented ministerial departments, principal social workers, directors of adult social services (ADASS), the Association of Directors of Children’s Service (ADCS), universities, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), local authorities, education course providers, independent charities, and workforce planning bodies.  

As part of the day, attendees discussed their own organisation’s role and remit in delivering change as well as the improvements that could come about working collectively. The activities were focused around the following 3 themes that also align to the NHS long term plan and the adult social care workforce strategy:

1. Train – growing the workforce 
2. Retain – embedding the right culture and improving retention 
3. Reform – working and training differently. 

When reflecting on these areas, members shared their thoughts on how we would address some of the workforce challenges across the profession. 

Professor Lucille Allain, co-chair of the Association of Professors of Social Work and head of school: mental health and social work at Middlesex University said:

“One of the key issues I think is the importance of continued funding for schools of social work. We are the largest providers of social work education and we promote research-informed practice as part of social work training in universities.”

Melanie Williams, president for ADASS and executive director of adult social care and health at Nottinghamshire County Council added:

“Social work is at the heart of civic society, enabling people to live good lives and ensuring social justice.

Social work leaders came together to consider how we best develop, build and recognise the profession and what key issues we need to consider for social work into the future. Given our challenges – public sector finance, increasing need of people we support, and embracing new ways of working, coming together to form a cohesive approach is essential as the solutions sit between us."

Mairi Anne Macdonald, deputy director at Research in Practice said:

“It is important to think about the impact of digital on both our practice and our lives. This is so we understand what skills people need to work in a digital framework. It is also so we can understand how young people communicate digitally together so that we can work with them in a way that meets their needs.” 

Professor Oonagh Smyth, chief executive officer at Skills for Care said:

“I think the biggest impact that we can make is by all coming together and having a shared and joint, social work strategy. The biggest impact comes from us all making changes in our own space and trying to pull that all in the same direction.” 

Colum Conway, chief executive of Social Work England closed the session. He added:

“Social work is a very dispersed profession. We register around 104,000 social workers and they work in all sorts of different areas and environments across England. 

There is no one solution. No one thing that will change the environment for every single social worker. What we have to do is work collaboratively so that we can understand the different environments that social workers work in so we can respond accordingly to bring our positive change.”  

Further action and collaboration will be taken forward to ensure sector leaders can continue to work together and maintain the momentum and commitment to developing collective solutions.  

As part of the day, we asked some of the roundtable members “how do you think we can address social work workforce issues to make positive change?” Watch the following video to hear what they said.