ADCS welcomes “long awaited” Government guidance on use of agency social workers

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has welcomed the Government’s new statutory guidance for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers, observing that children and families benefit from having a “consistent” worker who builds a meaningful relationship with them.

Earlier this month, the Government announced that from 31 October 2024, local authorities should comply with all agency rules for all new agency child and family social work assignments across all contracts to supply agency child and family social workers, except where “existing contractual obligations prevent implementation of particular rules or parts of a rule”.

From 31 October, local authorities must provide the Department for Education (DfE) with quarterly data on the use and cost of agency child and family social workers, including where supplied via a project team or other packaged model.

On notice periods, the new guidance states that local authorities should ensure all agency assignments have a four-week notice period, or align the length of assignment notice periods with that of the local authority’s contractual notice period for substantive staff in the same or an equivalent job role where that is less than four weeks.

On ‘Cool-off’ periods, the guidance asserts that LAs should not engage agency child and family social workers for a minimum period of three months after the worker has left a substantive role in their children’s services department or that of a local authority within the same region.

On price caps, the guidance states that local authorities should work within their region to agree and implement agency child and family social worker price caps, that all local authorities within the region should comply with.

The price caps should:

• be set against the core job types described in the operational data and price cap guidance.
• be applied to all contracts to supply agency child and family social workers to a local authority, including via a project team or other packaged model.
• take into account data and market insights, including data outputs from the quarterly data submission.

On post-qualifying experience, the guidance expresses that councils should not engage agency child and family social workers with less than three years post-qualifying experience (PQE) in direct employment of an English local authority practising in a child and family context, while registered as a social worker with a UK regulator.

The ADCS observed that children benefit the most from having a consistent worker who builds a “strong, meaningful relationship” with them. However, the association warned that the “short-term nature” of agency social work and the level of turnover makes this “more difficult to achieve”.

Responding to the Government’s new guidance, Rachael Wardell, Vice President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “ADCS has long raised the need for coordinated national action to manage the agency social work market so that it works for local authorities and, most importantly, for children and families. Therefore, we are pleased the Department for Education has published long-awaited statutory guidance which outlines, for the first time, a national set of rules that local authorities, agency providers and agency social workers must work within.

“This guidance helpfully sets out clear expectations on pay, references, post-qualifying experience, and notice periods, amongst other things, which will allow us to better support the children and families that we work with while maintaining a sufficiently flexible agency workforce."

Wardell added: “We welcome the Department’s commitment to review the effectiveness of measures in relation to project teams, if necessary. ADCS is clear social work is not a short-term project, at the heart of good social work with children and families is building long lasting relationships in order to empower those we work with to make positive, sustained changes in their lives. ADCS will continue to work with the Department for Education, and others, on implementing these reforms to ensure they impact positively on children and families and result in the sustainable workforce they both need and deserve.”

Lottie Winson