Impact

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Impact is becoming increasingly important across all aspects of adult social care. An evidence- based approach to professional practice and service delivery is the responsibility of both the employer and social workers.

Impact can quantify efficiency and effectiveness, supporting the development of sector-led knowledge and experience. It also enhances the status of social work as a professional activity. Learning from others provides more information about sharing information and measuring impact.

Cost effectiveness of social work

In times of financial constraints, social work must demonstrate economic and social value. The College of Social Work business case for social work argues that early investment in social work saves money further down the line and is supported by a number of good practice examples.

The final report of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) adult social care efficiency programme highlights the roles social workers can have on the impact on quality of service and efficiency.

Impact on care and support outcomes

The workforce capacity planning resources provide general questions, prompts and tips to help consider the impact of social work interventions on care and support outcomes.
The workforce outcomes measurement model has been developed and tested in partnership with employers to judge whether workforce interventions are having an impact.
Think local act personal has produced information which details what people in need of care and support have to say about social workers and the role they can play in service delivery.
The College of Social Work has developed a suite of resources to highlight the impact of social work.

When considering CPD, employers need to be able to measure the impact of their investment on practice and service delivery. Social workers should be able to evidence and demonstrate the impact of their CPD activity as part of their professional registration. Skills for Care worked with employers to develop evaluation tools which can be used to measure the impact of CPD.

Implementing workforce redesign – monitoring and reviewing progress

The workforce capacity planning resources provide general questions, prompts and tips to help monitor and review the decisions about social work deployment that may be made as part of a wider workforce redesign. The Standards for Employers of social workers in England is the benchmark for this process.

While local authority social work services are not currently inspected by the Care Quality Commission, their new inspection approach, based on the five outcomes listed below, provides a useful framework to monitor and review the effectiveness of a redesigned social work workforce.