The representation of Black social workers in the children’s services workforce in English councils halves between the front line and management, Department for Education (DfE) data has shown.

There is also a drop-off in the proportion of Asian practitioners and those from mixed or multiple ethnic groups at senior levels, compared with the front line, according to the figures, which date from September 2024.

By contrast, the proportion of white social workers increases with seniority, revealed the data, which has been published on the DfE’s children’s social care dashboard.

Chief social worker Isabelle Trowler said the figures showed action needed to be taken to ensure better representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff at senior level, which remained “very very white”.

Fall in Black representation at senior levels

The proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in the children’s social work workforce in English councils (26.2%) is higher than in the general population (19%).

This is driven by the particularly high representation of Black staff, who accounted for 15.2% of children’s social workers, as of September 2024, compared with 4.2% of the population.

However, while Black staff accounted for 20.5% of case holders – which encompasses those in frontline roles who are not senior practitioners – this fell to 13.1% among senior social workers and 10.2% among managers.

Asian and mixed-heritage staff’s representation

Among Asian and mixed-heritage staff, there was a similar, though smaller-scale, drop-off. Asian staff accounted for 6.5% of the whole workforce, 6.9% of case holders, 6.3% of senior practitioners and 5.3% of managers, while mixed-heritage social workers were 3.6% of the workforce, 4% of case holders, 3.7% of senior practitioners and 3% of managers.

White staff exhibited the opposite trend, accounting for 67.7% of case holders, 75.9% of senior practitioners and 80.7% of managers.

The figures do not include the director of children’s services (DCS) role, 90% of whose postholders were white as of 2024, according to data from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.

Senior leadership is ‘very very white’

Trowler addressed the issue in the opening session of Social Work Week, Social Work England’s annual programme of online events, which , this year, runs from 17-21 March 2025.

Isabelle Trowler, the chief social worker for children and families

“We have a really diverse junior part of our workforce, but we know that the leadership, particularly senior leadership, is very very white. And we have to do something about this.”

Trowler also referenced the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s recent report on race in child protection. This found that the race and ethnicity of children was often not recognised, appropriately explored or understood by practitioners, resulting in them not having a full understanding of children’s lived experience and the vulnerabilities they faced.

Workforce diversity ‘not translating into addressing of inequality’

“Even though we have this representation at junior levels of the workforce, that isn’t translating into addressing inequality in practice,” she added.

“Good representation at junior levels is absolutely necessary, but is not sufficient in seeing systemic shifts in the way we are working alongside families and understanding their experience and what they need from the state.”

A key initiatives to tackle racial inequalities in the social work workforce is the social care workforce race equality standard (SC-WRES).

Workforce race equality standard reveals inequalities

Under this, councils collect data on nine metrics measuring the experiences of their Black, Asian and minority ethnic social care staff against those of white counterparts, and then submit this to Skills for Care. They are also expected to draw up action plans to address the findings.

Data from the 2023 SC-WRES revealed that, compared with white staff, Black, Asian and minority ethnic social care workers had, in the previous 12 months, been:

• half as likely to be appointed to a job from a shortlisting;
• 40% more likely to enter formal disciplinary processes;
• more than twice as likely, as a regulated professional, to enter fitness to practise processes;
• 20% more likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse from people who use social care, relatives or the public;
• 30% more likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse from a colleague and 90% more likely to have experienced this from a manager;
• 10% more likely to leave their organisation.

More than half of councils in England are now signed up to the SC-WRES. However, unlike its NHS counterpart, the scheme receives no government funding, meaning it is resourced by Skills for Care and participating authorities.

Last year, Community Care’s annual jobseeker research found that, of those looking to leave social work, 63% cited stress and 56% cited burnout as reasons.

As well as causing retention issues for organisations, poor emotional health can also affect how social workers practise.

This highlights the importance of social work managers and leaders promoting the wellbeing of their teams and services.

In a new article for the The Social Work Community, social work leader and consultant Clair Graham provides advice for managers on achieving this.

She highlights the skills involved in being a supportive social work leader, initiatives to help staff manage their wellbeing, and the importance of fostering “a culture of emotional intelligence”.

As she concludes: “By prioritising staff wellbeing, organisations can reduce sickness, enhance staff retention, and improve outcomes for the communities that they serve.”

Read the full article on The Social Work Community.

Most social workers believe a disconnect exists between senior management and frontline practitioners, a Community Care poll has found.

The need to ensure leaders are in touch with the front line has been highlighted in both the major reviews of children’s services in England carried out over the past 15 years.

In his 2021-22 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, Josh MacAlister recommended that all registered social workers, at whatever level, complete 100 hours of direct practice annually.

‘Crucial for leaders to keep up with practice’

“It is crucial that leaders, inspectors, policy makers and academics keep up with the realities of frontline practice,” the review stated, though MacAlister’s recommendation was rejected by government.

In her 2010-11 review of child protection in England, professor Eileen Munro also tried to narrow the gap between leadership and practising social workers through the creation of the principal social worker role. 

“There must be a stronger commitment by all levels of local administration to understand how senior management decisions impact on frontline social work,” she wrote. “[The PSW] role would take responsibility for relating the views of social workers to all levels of management…”

Management ‘more detached than ever’

Unlike MacAlister’s recommendation, Munro’s was implemented.

However, in a 2024 interview with Community Care, she claimed that senior management was more detached from the front line than ever.

“Once you’re away from the front line, you forget quite how chaotic and messy the reality of it is,” she said. “You get a much cleaner, more sanitised version of it. That’s dangerous.”

The respondents to a recent Community Care poll seemed to agree.

An overwhelming 92% of readers said that there was a disconnect between frontline practitioners and their senior managers.

In an echo of MacAlister and Munro’s views, Dame Moira Gibb, who chaired the 2009 Social Work Task Force, recently called for stronger bonds to be forged between management and practitioners.

“It is my hope that senior managers understand what the life of a frontline social worker is and what they need to make a difference for families,” she told Community Care.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

We’re expanding our My Brilliant Colleague series to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
This article is part of a series of profiles of key figures who have shaped social work over the past five decades, to mark Community Care’s 50th anniversary. Previous interviewees include Brid Featherstone, David Howe, June Thoburn, Eileen Munro and Herbert Laming.

Dame Moira Gibb’s calling to leadership was evident even when she vehemently resisted the step-up to management.

Just three years after qualifying, she walked out alongside her colleagues in Newcastle protesting the pressure to move into management – and ended up a leading figure in the strike.

It was one of the longest organised strikes in social work history. From August 1978 to May 1979, over 2,500 social workers in 15 local authorities walked out over staff turnover, pay, and a push for practitioners to take on managerial roles due to vacancies.

“We thought we were in the right,” says Gibb now.

“We were campaigning about the ability to stay in practice and not have to move into management to gain a higher salary. How do you not have the front line served by your least experienced people?”

Gibb was selected to give a speech on the first rally, her candour and passion quickly ‘catapulting’ her to being a spokesperson for the strike.

“I ended up going around to other councils making speeches about why they should pursue the same approach.”

Still, despite cherishing memories of solidarity and camaraderie from that time, Gibb calls striking “terrible” for social work.

“It felt very bad to be walking away from your clients. Some people contacted them and tried to support them, but it’s a terrible waste of resources and, in social work, we ought to be able to negotiate and understand the perspectives of both sides.”

Listening to frontline staff

At the root of the strike, she says, was a disconnect between management and frontline staff that she has tried to address throughout her career – both as director of social services at Kensington and Chelsea from 1990 to 2003 and later as chair of the 2009 Social Work Task Force.

As a director, she tailored her service based on feedback from frontline staff and those who used social services, helping make Kensington and Chelsea one of the top-rated social services authorities in the country according to inspectors.

Her words are layered thick with pride as she talks of that time.

“They said we were one of two best in the country,” says Gibb.

“And it was simple things, like people not having to give their details three times because they met three different practitioners, approving new services that made sense to young people, and talking to them before making decisions that would affect them. But also listening as an organisation to design the service, instead of relying on the frontline [to do that].”

Senior managers – Gibb included – were also required to spend at least two weeks every year working with cases to stay connected to the profession and their staff.

“How do we know what is needed if there is no touch with the frontline and the clients?”

Even today, when looking at the future of social work, the first thing that springs to Gibb’s mind is the relationship between management and their practitioners.

“It is my hope that senior managers understand what the life of a frontline social worker is and what they need to make a difference for families.”

Forming the Social Work Task Force

Pictured: Moira Gibb

Even after becoming distanced from social work, after being appointed chief executive of Camden council in 2003, Gibb remained passionate about frontline practice.

That passion led her to chair the Social Work Task Force in 2009.

In December 2008, in the midst of the media storm that marked the Peter Connelly (Baby P) case, then children’s secretary Ed Balls fired Haringey’s director of children’s services, Sharon Shoesmith, on live television.

The same month, Gibb received a phone call from Balls’ office to form the taskforce.

It was to be a group of 18  experts who would review frontline practice in England and help improve recruitment, training and the overall quality and status of social work.

“My theory was [Balls] thought he’d gone too far in his response with Sharon and wanted to demonstrate that he was a friend of social work,” says Gibb.

‘We wanted to reinforce a sense of professional identity’

When they went around England talking to social workers, what they found, says Gibb, was struggling departments over-relying on frontline practitioners to resolve their running issues.

“They were not understanding the consequences of what they were asking practitioners to do,” she says. “Practitioners thought what they were doing was social work, but they were also doing bits of welfare, bits of what the department needed from them – we needed to reinforce a sense of professional task and identity. There seemed to be no space for relationships.

“We wanted practitioners to feel they could say, ‘You can’t ask me to do that because it would be against my professional standards’.”

Their final report, published in November 2009, found that people supported by social workers were “not getting the consistently high quality of service they deserve” because of weaknesses in recruitment, retention, resourcing, training and leadership.

It also identified a dangerously poor public understanding of the profession.

The taskforce presented 15 recommendations, some of which remain in place today, including: increased entry standards for social work degrees, the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) to improve early career support, and the standards for employers of social workers in England, to enhance organisations’ support for their staff.

Unfortunately, similarly to Eileen Munro and Lord Laming’s reviews on child protection in the same period, the taskforce’s recommendations came at a time of change for England. Within a year, a new government came into office and implemented a programme of public sector austerity.

‘Our last recommendation was to have a reform board to coordinate the changes so they didn’t have to be done all at once. Then the Coalition came. They supported the work for a year, but then took away the funding and closed down the board,” says Gibb.

“I still think, if implemented in full, the recommendations would have made a big difference.”

Munro echoed this sentiment in an interview on her 2010-11 review earlier this year.

The College of Social Work

Gibb calls the Baby P case one of social work’s ‘low points’ – a time when practitioners were hounded by the media with no voice to defend themselves.

The taskforce’s solution was the College of Social Work, a professional body that would be a strong, social work-led voice in public debate and policy development, and raise standards for the profession.

“We looked at what other professions did and thought social workers needed something to give them a sense of identity that wasn’t defined by their employer. That’s what makes a profession, we thought,” says Gibb.

“Managers are very important and can make a big difference, but they shouldn’t be able to call all the shots about what’s quality social work. The standards for lawyers aren’t set by the government. They have input themselves into what is appropriate.”

The College was established in 2012, but closed down in 2015 when the government pulled its funding after it failed to become financially independent due to a shortage of fee-paying members.

“It ran out of steam,” says Gibb. “It didn’t have the traction I would have liked it to. But it had a positive impact on the morale of social workers, I would claim that.

“A sense of, yes, somebody is speaking about the profession in positive terms, and not just about the failures.”

‘Telling social work’s story’

Gibb hasn’t worked for or within the sector in a while, but – in her own words – her love for it hasn’t faded.

“I think my passion for the frontline and for social workers to tell their story better are two things that could go on my tombstone,” she jokes.

Her taskforce pushed for improving the public understanding of the profession by fostering relationships between social workers and local media, establishing clear protocols for managing breaking stories involving social work, and maintaining a repository of success stories to showcase good practice.

As part of that, Gibb invited The Sun editor Deidre Sanders to be among the 18 experts comprising the team, which included social work leaders and academics.

Her choice was regarded as polarising following The Sun’s vitriol against the social workers involved in the Baby P case. But she was determined to tell practitioners’ stories to the outlets that were, she says, read by and representing the average citizen.

She describes Sanders as “a great supporter”, one who accepted criticism when it came and defended it when she thought it was right.

Opening social work’s doors to the media

There is a lot to be said – and feared – about social care services opening their doors to the media. Trauma and history lie heavy between the two, even when not accounting for the profession’s innately sensitive and private nature.

But Gibb is a firm believer in the value exposure can bring to the sector.

“We want people to say they want to become social workers so we’ve got talent to recruit from, we want people to seek intervention from social services at the right time, and government to give resources to something that matters to their citizens,” she says.

“But if the citizens never think about it, they’re not going to say that’s a good idea. Media exposure cannot keep being at the bottom of the pile.”

Her decades of experience have taught her that when local and national reporters are invited in, they’re often left impressed with “how different it was from what they thought and from how it is portrayed”.

“We should be braver,” she reaffirms.

She praises Coventry council’s 2023 documentary with Channel 4, Kids, about six young people about to leave care, as a successful example of social care services opening their doors to the cameras.

The feature led to the local authority recruiting six experienced practitioners shortly after the third episode aired.

“Lots of local authorities genuinely say, well, somebody else can do it because we were so small or because this and that,” says Gibb.

“Social workers have to be willing to expose themselves, to feel confident enough in their professional practice to be observed. It could make a world of a difference.”

For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, Jayne Graham, strategic head of services at the adult social care provider Next Stage Group, has nominated her colleague, Paul O’Rouke, who she describes as someone who sees “opportunities where others might see barriers”.

I want to take a moment to recognise Paul O’Rouke, the managing director of The Next Stage Group, a colleague and true champion for transformative change in the social care industry.

In a sector that faces constant challenges, Paul stands out with an unwavering “anything is possible” mindset.

Pictured: Paul O’Rouke

Over the past nine years in which we have worked together, his resilience and innovative spirit have not only inspired me but also ignited a creative, problem-solving culture across the entire team.

His belief in limitless possibilities fuels a dynamic environment where out-of-the-box thinking has led to real solutions for those with complex needs.

Paul’s leadership is empowering. He instils confidence in those around him, encouraging us to see opportunities where others might see barriers. In a demanding field like social care, his positive approach is exactly what we need to push boundaries and create meaningful change.

Paul helps us adapt to the ever-changing landscape, ensuring that our support is flexible and tailored to people’s needs.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, his empathy shines through in everything he does.

He is as committed to improving the lives of others outside of work as he is within his role. He volunteers for football clubs and creates opportunities for those who may not have had them otherwise.

I believe his dedication to care is deeply rooted in his own experiences and, despite his senior leadership role, he remains connected with people from all walks of life.

His commitment to offering personalised, compassionate support to individuals with diverse needs is truly remarkable.

How to nominate a colleague

For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our series My Brilliant Colleague to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by either:

• Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
• Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.

A training scheme for new directors of children’s services (DCSs) has been extended in length to help counter high rates of turnover in the role.

New DCSs are now being offered a second year of coaching following the 12-month training programme for incoming directors, under a new contract between the Department for Education (DfE) and the scheme’s providers.

The new directors’ scheme is one half of the DCS Leadership Programme – formerly called Upon – alongside a course for senior managers looking to step up into the role.

Since its inception in 2020, it has been delivered by leadership training organisation the Staff College, workforce development body Skills for Care, the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University and recruitment agency GatenbySanderson.

Anyone in their first director’s post is invited to go on the new DCS programme within two weeks of taking up their post, with the training, comprising virtual and face-to-face learning, delivered on a rolling basis.

Tackling DCS turnover through increased support

One change from the previous contract is that new directors will receive a second year of coaching beyond the core 12 months of training, which will include online sessions and one-to-one support from current or former DCSs and an annual residential session.

Staff College chief executive Jane Parfrement said the additional provision was designed to help tackle turnover rates among directors, which rose for the third consecutive year in 2023-24, during which there were 62 changes of role.

“The extended support offer for the first two years is in recognition of that and to support people to stay in role,” she added.

The extended support was welcomed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, whose president, Andy Smith, said: “The role of the director of children’s services is the most rewarding in local government, but it is also one of the most challenging, high stakes and high accountability roles, requiring unique leadership and partnership skills.

“Therefore, having optional long-term coaching and support is a positive offer.”

‘Diversity of training scheme improving’

Another longstanding issue with the DCS role has been its lack of racial and ethnic diversity, with just 2% of postholders being black in 2023-24, compared with 14% of the children’s social work workforce. By contrast, 90% of DCSs were white, compared with 75% of the children’s social work workforce.

Parfrement said the college was seeing more ethnic diversity in the programme for aspirant directors, which is delivered once a year for those wanting to step up into senior leadership. It comprises eight taught days and is also followed by a period of coaching.

She said the college had also increased the diversity of coaches and facilitators on the programme, enabling it to better match them to participants.

“We can match our coaches in relation to protected characteristics,” she said. “If someone says, ‘I’d really like a coach who knows what it’s like to be a woman or someone from a global majority background in a leadership role”, [we can respond to that].”

She added that the diversity of senior leadership was also being boosted by increasing numbers of graduates from the college’s Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI), for aspiring leaders from minoritised groups, taking up posts.

The government has appointed Social Work England’s interim chair to the role on a substantive basis.

Andrew McCulloch, who has overseen the regulator since Lord Patel’s resignation in February 2023, has been made chair for the next three years.

The Department for Education has also reappointed Adi Cooper and Sue Ross – both registered social workers – to the regulator’s board, likewise for a three-year term.

McCulloch, a former civil servant in the then Department of Health and ex-chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, will receive £450 a day for the role, as was the case when he was interim chair. He is expected to commit 80 days a year to the position.

Role of the board and chair

The role of the board is to oversee the running of Social Work England, review management performance, set the regulator’s strategic objectives, ensure it has the human and financial resources to meet them and make sure it complies with its statutory, regulatory and common-law duties.

The chair is responsible for leading the board, including by formulating its strategy, ensuring that it takes account of government guidance, promoting the effective and efficient use of staff and resources and delivering high standards of propriety.

The role also involves reviewing the work of the board and its members regularly and making sure that it has an appropriate balance of skills.

An external review of the board earlier this year, commissioned by the regulator, received positive feedback about McCulloch, who is not a social worker, with fellow members and stakeholders saying he had brought structure and focus to the board.

‘A deep commitment to social work and social care’

“I’m honoured to have been appointed to the substantive role of chair of Social Work England,” McCulloch said.

“I have a deep commitment to social work and social care, and to the people who access social care support. It is therefore a privilege to continue in the role for the next three years.”

Cooper and Ross were both appointed as non-executive directors for Social Work England in 2021, in the wake of criticisms about there being a lack of social workers on the board.

Former local authority directors remain on board

Cooper spent over 20 years working as a social worker, manager and director in local authority services, until 2015. She has since worked as a social care and health adviser for the Local Government Association, currently chairs two safeguarding adults boards and is a visiting professor at the University of Bedfordshire.

Ross is a consultant in health and social care covering both adults’ and children’s services, and previously worked in adults’ and children’s services director roles in England, Scotland and Wales.

They will continue to receive £350 per day for a time commitment of up to 25 days per year.

This article is part of a series of profiles of key figures who have shaped social work over the past five decades, to mark Community Care’s 50th anniversary. Previous interviewees include Brid Featherstone, David Howe, June Thoburn, Eileen Munro and Herbert Laming.

Few can boast a long career in social work these days.

Ray Jones, emeritus professor of social work at Kingston University, is one of the rare ones with more than 50 years of experience.

Since he qualified in 1972, he has seen the sector through many changes while wearing different hats: social worker, academic, director of social services, independent reviewer and, notably, the unofficial social work spokesperson on the Peter Connelly (Baby P) case.

He began his career at a time when, on the back of the 1968 Seebohm report, pre-existing welfare, children’s and mental health services had just been merged into unified social services departments in local authorities.

From generic social work to ‘fragmentation’

Jones, like other practitioners, became a ‘generic social worker’, handling a caseload across all ages and needs – a time he recalls wistfully, and one he wishes we’d return to.

“The reality we have now […] is services that are specialised, fragmented, segregated and separate,” he tells me.

“In 1972, we knew what was going on in the community. We weren’t handing over cases between workers when different needs arose. We stuck with people and worked within their communities with other professionals  – schools, GPs, health visitors, district nurses, police officers. I feel we’ve lost that to some extent now by the fragmentation.”

As Jones recounted in a separate article for Community Care’s 50^th anniversary, the splitting apart of adults’ and children’s services started in the 1980s, culminating in the creation of two departments, in England, through the Children Act 2004.

‘We lose trust with too many handovers’

Ray Jones in the 1970s as a newly qualified social worker

However, that fragmentation of services extends beyond this split to the way children’s services, in particular, is organised, he says

Today, children can be passed between referral and assessment, child in need, child protection,  children in care, adoption and leaving care teams.

It is something he observed in his 2023 review of Northern Ireland’s children’s services, where he highlighted that a lesson for all practitioners in the UK is the need for continuity and stability for children and families.

“I was working it out and, as a child, within a period of a year to 18 months, you could move between three to four teams. That is three to four different workers, assuming the workers within the teams don’t also change,” says Jones.

He tells me of a young person who’s had 12-13 social workers in the past two years and is currently undergoing another change.

“We’re a relationship-based profession wanting to be close to people, and we can’t do that if we have all these handovers, all this fragmentation,” he says.

“We lose the relationship and the trust, but we also lose something else – the history; the knowledge of what’s happened to a person in their recent life. We lose that journey. We’re a short-term interjection, and then we disappear and someone else interjects.”

Standing besides people in times of need

A social worker, as he puts it, should not be the one with all the answers or specialist knowledge, but someone who stands beside people in times of difficulty and engages them, helping to “create some space to see a way forward”.

He sees these as human and professional qualities that do not require specialisation. When the need arises for specialist knowledge – “say to assist someone with chronic anxiety” – he advocates bringing in an expert to work alongside the practitioner, rather than handing over the case entirely.

Jones recalls his teams at Wiltshire council, where he was a director of social services in the 1990s, as an example.

“We had multidisciplinary groups, but we would have key workers. They would be the person who would stay with the family, child or adult. Other workers might come in and do bits of activity, add expertise and knowledge, but we would have someone to anchor the person.”

If it were up to him, children’s social services would comprise only a “short-term” initial assessment team, followed by longer-term teams embedded within communities “that stuck beside the person”.

“It would bring the focus back to the community. [Practitioners would] know what’s happening in people’s lives [and] their life story, but also know about the communities they’re living in and the impact it has on them.”

A less experienced workforce

Jones served as Wiltshire’s director of social services for 14 years, starting from 1992, a tenure that was common then but rare today.

As of March 2024, the average director of children’s services (DCS) had been in post for less than three years (33 months). The rapid turnover within the workforce – including social workers and managers up to directors – has, in Jones’ view, created an environment “unstable to be building practice skills within”.

“To an extent, we have a less experienced workforce than we have had in the past, including the leadership,” he adds.

“It’s really difficult to build up a strong base of competence and confidence when you’re not around for that long, or when the people around you aren’t around that long.”

‘Change takes time’

“It’s a difficult job,” says Jones about the role of a director.

“There’s a lot of public and media exposure. You’re working in a political environment, both locally and nationally, which is unsympathetic and unsupportive of the work that we’re doing. There’s a lot of blame culture and stress.”

Yet it might be the expectation of change tied to the role that is partly to blame, he says. Directors arrive with new promises and plans, but are unable to see them through in their short tenures, leaving them burnt out.

“We need to recognise that building a culture within organisations takes time. It’s not a job that you can crack in two or three years. You need at least seven or eight to make a difference. But if you can stay beyond that, that’s even better.”

During his time as a director, Jones recalls leaders staying long enough to witness “the consequences of what they were introducing”.

In contrast, recent years have been marked by a quick-fix culture that has made it difficult to build stability, he says.

“At the moment there are too many distractions and everything is too fast. It’s creating a lot of noise without, if you like, the progress that needs to be achieved to actually build stable organisations.”

Building relationships with journalists

An inescapable lesson Jones had to learn as a director was also how to handle media attention. In social work, child deaths or older people wandering off from care homes are sometimes unavoidable, he says.

In those cases, alongside being beside his colleagues to “provide a bit of space and protection for them”, he also took on the media attention through relationships built with local journalists.

“[The media] was handled by me, not some communications officer who didn’t understand the things we needed to talk about. When something awful happened, I had a relationship with the journalist and was able to engage with them.”

‘A spokesperson for social work’

Peter Connelly, who died in Haringey, August 2007

This decade-long dance with the media proved vital when the story of Baby P broke years later.

It’s difficult to talk about Jones’ career and not mention Peter Connelly, the child whose death in 2007, and the subsequent coverage of it in 2008, has permanently marked social work’s history.

Amid the media storm and relentless targeting of practitioners that ensued, Jones – then a professor at Kingston University – became social work’s spokesperson, appearing on various channels and in newspapers to correct the narrative.

Later, in 2014, he also wrote a book, ‘The story of Baby P: Setting the record straight’.

A more risk-averse culture

The case brought an intense period of public condemnation for the sector and a sharp  rise in the annual number of care proceedings, with the number of care applications seeing a 70% rise between 2008-9 and 2012-13  linked to a risk-averse culture that, Jones argues, has yet to ease.

The decade of austerity ushered in by the coalition government in 2010 did not help the sector get back on its feet either.

“We had the double-whammy of the media slam in 2008, and then the government withdrawing resources from us and the families,” says Jones.

“It has made it very difficult to do the work we need to do. We’ve remained largely focused on risk assessment and management, and the job has gotten more difficult. The exposure has increased but the opportunity to do what we need to do has been even more restricted [due to a lack of resources].”

However, despite the hardships, Jones’s belief in the sector remains unwavering. He affirms that what social workers do is “as important now as it’s ever been”.

His parting advice: “We don’t have the resources, but let’s try and calm it down and stick with the job, rather than churning it up as often as we do at the moment.”

New chairs have been announced for the two principal social worker (PSW) networks that represent practice leaders in England.

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Gavin Butler and Kate Concannon, the PSW in Southampton, will take the helm of the Adult Principal Social Worker (APSW) Network for the next two years, from next month.

They succeed Sarah Range (Southend) and Hannah Scaife (South Gloucestershire), and will be supported by new vice-chairs Vanna Changlee (Waltham Forest), Seanna Lasseter (Walsall) and Coleen Simon (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust). Meanwhile, Paula Swift (Tees, Esk and Wear Vally NHS Trust) has stepped down from her previous vice-chair role.

For the Principal Children and Families Social Worker (PCFSW) Network, Shungu Chigocha (Achieving for Children/Windsor & Maidenhead), Tapiwa Julius (Cambridgeshire) and Louise Spragg (Telford & Wrekin) have been made chairs.

They will take over from Paul McGee (Essex), Clare Poyner (Portsmouth) and Rob Tyrrell (Gloucestershire) in September.

The networks bring together principal social workers from councils, and in the case of the APSW, mental health trusts, across England, to provide mutual support, share good practice resources, develop policy and influence government.

The children’s network is funded by the Department for Education (DfE), while the adults’ group is resourced by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the groups have close links to the department’s respective chief social workers.

Isabelle Trowler has been the chief social worker for children and families since the role’s inception in 2013, while there has been a vacancy for the adults’ job since January, when her long-term counterpart, Lyn Romeo, retired.

In April, the DHSC readvertised for Romeo’s replacement at a higher salary than in last year’s first recruitment round.

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The government’s axing of a social work leadership training scheme risks undermining support for practitioners as well as the retention of managers, principal social workers have warned.

The chairs of the Principal Children and Families Social Worker (PCFSW) Network said the loss of the Pathways programme – used by all but 10 local authorities – had left a gap in management training as some councils had not budgeted for alternative provision.

This meant investment in managers was diminshing, despite their role in supporting newly qualified and experienced social workers and in fostering environments in which good practice could thrive, they added.

The chairs, whose statement was based on feedback from PSWs, also criticised the lack of “prior consultation, direct opportunity for feedback or prior notification” by the Department for Education before ending the Pathways programme.

‘Unexpected’ loss of leadership programme

Instead of a formal announcement from the DfE, the news was revealed last month by Frontline chief executive Mary Jackson, at a session of the House of Commons’ education select committee’s current inquiry into children’s social care.

Jackson said the DfE had told the charity days earlier that its £7m contract to deliver Pathways – in partnership with what works body Foundations and North Yorkshire council – would not be renewed beyond its expiry in July 2024 for budget-related reasons.

This was despite Frontline having previously been “given all of the signals that the extension would come through”, said Jackson, and positive outcomes and feedback from the scheme.

Positive feedback and outcomes

Frontline said that 98% of Pathway participants reported that their time on the programme had improved their ability to deliver service improvements, while 99% said it had enhanced their ability to lead change.

It added that 14% of practice supervisors who undertook Pathway 1 (for practice supervisors) had been promoted within 12 months of completing the programme, while 25% of aspiring leaders on Pathways 2 to 4 – those undertaking the programme with a view to moving up – had also advanced to a more senior role.

This was echoed by the PCFSW chairs – Paul McGee (Essex), Clare Poyner (Portsmouth) and Rob Tyrrell (Gloucestershire) – in their response to the news.

“Many authorities have received very good local feedback from practitioners who have completed the different Pathway programmes and can see a consequent impact on practice confidence and application,” they said.

Alternative management training cut, warn PSWs

Pathways is fully funded by the DfE, and the network chairs said some areas had “reduced or stopped previously locally delivered leadership training following Pathways involvement and have not planned for or budgeted for an alternative”.

“This will adversely impact on the immediate CPD opportunities for our leaders and aspirant leaders and further affect consistent and coherent learning frameworks, morale, retention and effective succession planning,” they warned.

In a statement on its decision to scrap Pathways, the DfE pointed to other workforce initiatives it was funding, notably the development of a five-year early career framework for practitioners starting in children’s services.

However, the PCFSW Network stressed that it was managers’ responsibility “to develop NQSWs and experienced frontline staff” and, with the loss of Pathways, investment in them was “diminishing”.

Warning of ‘significant gap’ in team manager training

The loss of Pathways means that, for the first time since 2015, there will be no government-funded programme designed to develop team managers.

“This may leave a significant gap in up-skilling first line managers in strategic thinking, which is fundamental to managers in terms of building workplace environments where good practice can thrive,” said the network chairs.

They added: “There is a real concern this significant area of social work practice is being forgotten, yet it is crucial to successful outcomes for children and families and in turn, retention in a sector that is already struggling significantly, especially post-Covid.”

The chairs said the decision recalled the “disappointment” felt by the sector following the 2022 scrapping of the national assessment and accreditation system, given “the significant investment made by practitioners and leaders in promoting and engaging with [NAAS]”. NAAS enabled local authority children’s social workers and practice supervisors to gain accredited status based on passing an assessment.

“We would hope that further dialogue and curiosity about the benefits and scope of a national leadership development programme is promptly actioned,” the network chairs said.