The government has announced plans for new children’s social work standards.
Speaking at a national conference, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan insisted that the forthcoming standards would change the culture of children’s social work and encourage “the brightest and best to lead rather than leave the profession”.
During her speech, the Tory MP for Loughborough referred to the Jay report into the child abuse scandal in Rotherham which came to light earlier this year. Morgan said this had highlighted a current focus on bureaucracy at the expense of frontline engagement with young people in need. Too many social workers were being driven out of the profession as a result, she claimed.
A new assessment system for children’s social workers defining three levels of professional practice will be introduced, as well as new Approved Child and Family Practitioner Status. Any social worker dealing directly with vulnerable children and those in care will require this status, a “stretching new standard for all those employed in the most demanding front line social work roles”.
A new qualification for social work supervisors is also set for introduction.
The new standards are due to be introduced before the end of the year, the BBC reports.
Nicky Morgan was one of the 161 parliamentarians who voted in May last year
against the legalisation of gay marriage in England and Wales. However, she recently announced that she has changed her mind on the issue and would vote in favour of same sex marriage if the vote was held now.
