Social worker rethink after Baby P

Dec 1 2009

Social workers will need a licence to practise under sweeping Government reforms due to be announced in an attempt to transform the demoralised and over-stretched profession following the Baby Peter tragedy.

New social workers will be guaranteed extra support for their first year of work but will then need to pass an assessment to earn the licence which they can only keep by sticking to a profession code of conduct.

Under the reforms employers will be obliged to provide high quality supervision, ensure workloads are manageable and give staff time for professional development.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls and Health Secretary Andy Burnham are due to accept recommendations in the final report from a Government-appointed social work taskforce.

The report also recommends the creation of a new National College of Social Work - independent of government - to act as the voice of the profession.

Mr Balls said he would push for the college to be given Royal status as quickly as possible, becoming the first Royal College of Social Work.

The pay of social workers will also be reviewed to ensure wages are appropriate and reflect each person's career development.

Ministers launched the social work taskforce in January to carry out a comprehensive review of the profession in England in the wake of the failings exposed by Baby Peter's death.

In July it published an interim report which painted a picture of over-burdened social workers who feel undervalued and whose training often fails to prepare them properly for the demands of the job.

Social work is struggling to hold its own as a "durable, attractive" profession, with widespread staff shortages "seriously compromising" the quality of frontline services, the report said. The taskforce, whose members include The Sun's agony aunt Deidre Sanders, also highlighted the absence of a single body responsible for promoting the profession and improving standards.