Child and family social worker workforce

The independent review of children’s social care, published in May 2022, described the case to reduce overreliance on agency social work resource in order to provide more stable relationships for children and families and reduce costs.

This consultation invites views on a set of national rules on the engagement of agency social work resource covering:

• price caps on what local authorities may pay for an agency worker
• post-qualified experience needed for an agency assignment
• use of project teams
• references, notice periods, and movement between agency and substantive roles
• collection and sharing of pay and agency data
• adherence of procurement routes with the national rules

This consultation should be read alongside chapter 6 of Children’s social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love.

Additional formats and languages including Braille can be requested by emailing CSCstrategy2023.consultation@education.gov.uk.