Recruits to the first national, free return-to-practice course for social workers set up by the government and local councils in England are due to begin their retraining next week (November 7).
More than 150 former social workers from adult and children’s services applied for one of the 30 training places on offer on the Come Back to Social Work programme, which was launched in September by the Local Government Association (LGA), the Department for Education and the Department of Health.
Successful trainees will be on the programme for 13 weeks. During that time they will accrue the 30 days (or 60 days if they have been out of the profession for more than five years) of updating knowledge and skills required by the Health and Care Professions Council to re-register; this entitles them to practise as a social worker.
Unsuccessful applicants have been given a personal development plan to support them back to work. Their details are being held in a talent pool open to councils looking to recruit.
According to the LGA, this is the first fully funded national scheme of its kind. Others may follow, but future trainees may have to contribute to the costs.
The initiative has been welcomed by social workers who see the value of a national programme. Although some councils run their own schemes, social work lags behind other professions, such as nursing, which has 40 fully funded return-to-practice programmes on offer.
Dawn Langsford returned to social work in August after a four-year break to have a family. With her registration lapsed, she found it difficult to achieve the evidence of supervised practice she needed to get back on the register.
“It’s quite difficult because legally you can’t work as a social worker without that 30 days,” says Langsford. “But then if you go for an unqualified role and say you are looking to re-register, nobody wants to employ you, because they know they are going to lose you pretty soon. You don’t get past HR. It’s catch-22.”
Langsford worked in the voluntary sector, running a hospital-from-home service to help refresh her skills. When its funding ran out, she discovered that Wiltshire council was running a social worker return-to-practice scheme and she successfully applied.
“I think it’s a really good idea to have a national programme – the allied health professions have had them for years,” she says. “There are a lot of experienced people who want to come back to social work but find it a battle because of the kind of barriers that I experienced.
“I think you can lose your confidence and I think you may need to update your knowledge, but I don’t think the basic practice skills ever go away.”
