The Department is piloting social work practices for looked-after children and care leavers in England. Five pilots are running in Kent; Liverpool; Hillingdon; Staffordshire; and Blackburn, with Darwen. These pilots started in 2008 and seek to improve the experiences and outcomes for the most vulnerable children and young people in care, to empower social workers to do their jobs effectively and to reduce bureaucracy.
Social work practice (SWP) pilots are independent, social worker-led organisations.
A national evaluation of the 5 pilots will report in Spring 2012.
Six more pilots will go live in mid 2012. These are: Bristol; North Tyneside; Barnet; Redbridge; Sunderland and Norfolk.
The social work practices are one model in the Government’s wider agenda of the Big Society. A key commitment is to give public sector workers a new right to form employee-owned cooperatives and to bid to run the services they provide.
For further information about the SWP pilot programme, please see the documents in the associated resources section of this page.
Contact details
Social Work Practice Pilots Team
Telephone: 0114 274 2564 / 020 7340 8053
Email: socialwork.practices@education.gsi.gov.uk
