Skills for Care welcomes Social Work Reform Board's 'One Year On' Progress Report

News Release 15 December 2010

Skills for Care has welcomed the publication of the 'One Year On' report and its proposals as an important step forward for the profession.

Skills for Care will continue to be an active partner of the Reform Board and will fully contribute to the next steps by supporting wide ranging engagement with the sector to help further develop the detailed proposals published in the report.

"Skills for Care has been involved with the work of the Social Work Reform Board from day one and we believe that the publication of the report and a first set of proposals to put social workers on a greater professional footing is an important step forward," says Skills for Care CEO Sharon Allen.

"Under the leadership of Moira Gibb the Reform Board has brought together all the major partners across social work to produce a set of practical proposals that will help individual social workers, employers and social work educators to do their work better to support those who use social work in their communities.

"Our Newly Qualified Social Worker framework is already supporting more than 1500 newly qualified social workers to have the time and support they need to develop into confident professionals."

Skills for Care's joint work with CWDC to develop and test models for an Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, and our partnership with the National Skills Academy for Social Care to develop a national training programme for front-line social work managers are also key parts of Skills for Care's contribution to the change agenda set out by the Reform Board.

For more information and how you can get involved visit

Media enquiries:

Paul Clarke: 0113 2411297/ 07977519287. paul.clarke@skillsforcare.org.uk

Notes to editors:

1. Skills for Care is the employment-led strategic body for workforce development in adult social care in England, which is licensed jointly with its UK allies by UKCES to be the 'Skills for Care and Development' Sector Skills Council (SSC). Both organisations are chaired by Professor David Croisdale-Appleby. The other members of the SSC are the Children's Workforce Development Council (also for England), the General Social Care Council, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Care Council for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
2. Skills for Care forms a strategic overview of workforce needs in adult social care, which accounts for nearly 1.6 million workers or 5 per cent of England's workforce, spread over 40,600 establishments employing care staff. Skills for Care members are drawn from groups representing public, private and voluntary sector care employers, along with representatives of staff, trainers, service users and informal carers. Social care includes residential care, domiciliary care and social work with all its specialisms.
3. Skills for Care and its SSC allies promote and develop the social care sector's National Occupational Standards which are statements of competence that describe 'best practice'.
4. Skills for Care regional committees are major brokers of funding for social care workforce development.