Social Work Practice Pilots
Piloting the Social Work Practice model: a prospectus
The Social Work Practice concept, which was first outlined in the Care Matters Green Paper in October 2006, was explored by an independent working group consisting of a range of experts in the social-work arena. The group's report, Consistent Care Matters: Exploring the Potential for Social Work Practices, identified evidence which suggests that Social Work Practices may provide greater stability and continuity for children in care. Consistent Care Matters concluded that the only way to know for sure whether Social Work Practices would provide better outcomes for children in care was to conduct carefully controlled pilots, which should include Social Work Practices run by professional partnerships of social workers, third-sector organisations and private-sector organisations.
The Government set out its intention to legislate to establish six to nine Social Work Practice pilots in the Care Matters White Paper, and provisions enabling the model to be tested are in part 1 of the Children and Young Persons Bill. Royal Assent is expected by the end of 2008 (the precise date depends on the Parliamentary timetable). Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Children and Young Persons Bill, local authorities will be selected to take part in the pilots by November 2008. Pilot local authorities will then invite tenders from prospective Social Work Practice organisations with the aim that, following a rigorous commissioning process, the pilots will 'go live' in 2009.
Between 2009 and 2011, there will be an independent evaluation of the Social Work Practice model. The evaluation is being designed to test whether Social Work Practices improve outcomes for children. It will focus not only on what happens within the Social Work Practice, but also on the impact on the wider children's services system in the local-authority area. In 2012, a report of the evaluation of the Social Work Practice pilots will be made public and shared with interested parties to enable decisions to be made about the future of the Social Work Practice model. The model will only be made available to local authorities post-pilots if the evaluation shows that it does improve outcomes for children in care and does not have a negative impact on other social-care services.
To support pilot local authorities in contracting with Social Work Practices, the Department has worked with a range of stakeholders such as local-authority staff, private- and third-sector organisations, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, the Local Government Association and academic experts, to flesh out the Social Work Practice model. The Department has set out key principles for how funding, contracts and monitoring should work, and intends to work with pilot local authorities to develop these to meet local needs.
The purpose of this prospectus is to share the Department's thinking with interested parties, enabling them to consider whether they would like to get involved in the pilots.
For further information, or to notify us of your interest in participating in the pilots, please email the Social Work Practice team.
This page was last updated on 19 May 2008
