On 31 October 2024, statutory guidance for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers came into effect in England. The statutory guidance is part of the Department for Education’s workforce reforms.
The aim of the resources in the agency workforce hub is to support local authorities to:
- improve the stability and quality of the child and family social worker workforce
- encourage better relationships between agency child and family social workers and the children and families they support
Aim of the statutory guidance
The statutory guidance sets out the national rules for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers.
It aims to reduce the dependency on, and the costs associated with, agency child and family social workers. This will help create a more sustainable workforce.
This will allow for greater investment in workforce development and in improving the outcomes of children and families.
Implementation of the statutory guidance
From 31 October 2024 there are new rules covering agency child and family social work assignments. These apply to all contracts to supply agency child and family social workers to local authority children’s services.
The assignments should meet the agency rules outlined in the statutory guidance except where existing contractual obligations stop you from fully meeting the rules.
Transition period
A transition period will apply from the implementation date until 1 October 2025.
This allows local authorities time to make changes, so they achieve full implementation of the statutory guidance on the use of agency child and family social workers by 1 October 2025.
Employer Standards
The effective management of agency child and family social workers is an important part of Employer standard 2: Effective workforce planning systems. The employer standards sections contain other resources to address workforce issues, including the child and family agency workforce.
About these resources
The resources were developed for the Department for Education by Research in Practice, working in partnership with Essex County Council and King’s College London. Resources were developed based on Regional Innovation and Improvement Alliances identifying their priorities for support on implementing the statutory guidance.
Principal Social Workers and senior staff with responsibilities for workforce development from 34 local authorities, Children’s Trusts, and Regional Innovation and Improvement Alliances from across England provided feedback on the resources. This helped improve them and make them useful to the wider workforce.
Next page: Statutory guidance components
The resources have been developed by
Research in Practice
in collaboration with
DfE.
Published: 30 October 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024
Published: 30 October 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024