Workforce reform
To ensure that children and young people achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes, it is vital to have a children's workforce that is skilled, well-led and supported by effective, shared systems and processes. People in different parts of the workforce need to be able to work well together across institutional and professional boundaries, focused around the needs of the child and young person.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families continues to work with partners to identify good practice with a view to developing guidance and toolkits to support new ways of working locally as part of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme. Such integrated working will take a variety of forms depending on the needs of children, young people and families locally - from virtual teams brought together around the needs of particular children through to fully co-located multi-agency teams made up of professionals from different disciplines and organisations.
Reforming the children's workforce so that it supports the five outcomes more effectively, with a stronger focus on early identification and prevention, requires action at national and local levels. A clear, supportive national framework needs to be put in place to underpin this vision. To this end, we have developed:
- The Children's Workforce Strategy which sets out action to be taken
nationally and locally to ensure that there are the skills, ways of working and
capacity in the children's workforce to deliver change for children
- Practical guidance on multi-agency working
- The Common Assessment Framework
- A common core of skills and knowledge for the children's
workforce
- A better infrastructure for employer-led reform through the Children's Workforce Development Council, which is part of the Skills for Care and Development Sector Skills Council
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This page was last updated on 04 July 2007
