Response to Department for Education Children's Social Care Framework consultation

11 May 2023

Dear Sir or Madam,

As the specialist regulator for social work, we welcome the opportunity to comment on the Department for Education’s (‘the Department’s’) Children's social care National Framework and dashboard.

We also look forward to contributing to the ongoing development of the framework and dashboard. We will do this through our CEO, Colum Conway who is a member of the National Practice Group (NPG).

I hope the Department finds this feedback helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Colum Conway
Chief Executive

Consultation feedback

We have submitted separate responses to the consultations on:

• the children’s social care strategy: Stable Homes, Built on Love
• the child and family social worker workforce

We welcome the opportunities the framework presents to support a more consistent approach to practice across the country and offer greater clarity on standards and guidance in what is a crowded landscape.

Feedback on the National Framework

We agree that the National Framework is clear and easy to understand. We think it’s right that Department are trying to bring consistency with an outcomes based approach. The framework provides helpful clarity for partner agencies working with local authorities.

Since the outcomes are practice based, we have not provided feedback on the content of each outcome. The enablers are most relevant to us and our regulatory purpose. We feel this area is where we are most able to contribute to change.

Our education and training standards are outcomes based. We drafted them to ensure that every newly qualified social worker has the knowledge and skills they need. This will ensure they can offer the compassionate and motivational support set out in the framework.

Our professional standards and guidance then set out how they remain fit to practise. This includes requirements around supervision, cultural competence and anti-discriminatory practice. We were pleased to see parallels between the framework and our standards. We are also pleased that the Department emphasises these in how leaders should support their social workers.

We also support the importance placed on early career social workers receiving support. This enables them to develop and embed their practice. We have set out our own ambitions around these requirements in our approach to social work education and training.

The National Framework describes expectations for practice. We support an approach that sets a national direction for children's social care, with a focus on purpose, principles and outcomes for children and families.

We also support the proposal to issue the National Framework as statutory guidance. Achieving consistency of practice while balancing national statutory guidance with regional and local service flexibility is a challenge. However, basing the national framework on learning and evidence of what works, and looking to create a stronger learning infrastructure within the system will go some way to achieving that balance.

The National Framework could also strengthen expectations around multi-agency working. In particular, by basing the framework on learning and evidence. This is an opportunity to engage other professionals and agencies in evidence-based practice models. Revising the Working Together statutory guidance in line with the National Framework will also support improved expectations for better multi-agency working.

Underpinning the purpose, principles and outcomes within the framework should allow other professionals and agencies to sign up to this way of working. It will also present an opportunity for clear articulation at local and regional levels for everyone working within the broader children's social care system.

Feedback on the dashboard

As the regulator, it is important we share what we know (and what we learn) about the profession. We welcome the proposal for local authorities to contribute to a dashboard that may be shared.

The proposal to collect and publish data quarterly seems reasonable. However, we appreciate the burden this places on local authorities. As such, we will defer to their feedback and recommendations.

Practice Guides will set out what is known from current evidence and practice expertise about how best to achieve the outcomes, and deliver against the expectations of the National Framework.

The Dashboard will support continuous learning and improvement. However, it is important that this is not a static process. It should be designed to be dynamic and continually evolving, with a strong practice focus. Consideration will need to be given to the ongoing evaluation of the dashboard’s impact. For example, evaluating how it makes a difference to consistency and quality of practice. This will help build professional practice and will also ensure the dashboard is developing based on a clear understanding of what works. This will help to achieve good outcomes for children and families.