How the ASYE was developed

An Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) was recommended by the Social Work Task Force in their final report. The aim of the ASYE is to ensure that newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) receive consistent support in their first year of practice so that they are able to become confident, competent professionals.

Skills for Care and the then Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) supported the Social Work Reform Board (SWRB) to develop proposals for the ASYE that build on the previous Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) programmes, deliver a single programme across all service areas, and fit with the SWRB's national reform programme. The SWRB accepted these proposals in full in March 2012.

From September 2012 the ASYE succeeds the previous Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) programmes.

How the ASYE proposals were developed

Skills for Care worked in partnership with CWDC and now the Department for Education to support the SWRB in developing the ASYE. From September 2011 we drew on the experience and advice of over fifty employers across adults' and children's social work to formulate recommendations to the SWRB. We also learned from the evaluations of the NQSW programmes.

Skills for Care and CWDC worked closely with other partners, including The College of Social Work and the Local Government Association to ensure that the proposals were consistent with other parts of the SWRB process, such as the Professional Capabilities Framework and the Standards for Employers and Supervision Framework. Implementation of all these SWRB products, including ASYE, is complementary, as described in this site's various ASYE pages.

The SWRB issued a detailed proposals paper in September 2011 asking for views on key aspects of ASYE. We analysed the responses to it to help us make recommendations through the SWRB for how the ASYE should be implemented from September 2012.

The ASYE development process in more detail

Between September 2011 and March 2012 we gathered views and information to develop the proposals for the ASYE and analysed them against the experience and views of those implementing the then existing NQSW programmes.

The process included working with employers, higher education institutions and the profession to build on their learning from implementing the NQSW programme and to:

• develop potential approaches to assessing the ASYE
• develop ASYE capability statements, as part of the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF)
• consider how the ASYE should be implemented, including support for NQSWs and guidance for employers.

To do this, we:

• held three workshops with employers and HEIs to discuss the ASYE draft capability statements and potential approaches to assessing NQSWs' progress against the capability statements
• asked these employers through an online survey to tell us about their current approaches to assessing NQSWs, the types of tasks and evidence requirements they use and what their strengths and weaknesses were, and what they considered were important for use in ASYE
• visited and phoned a number of employers to find out how they were implementing the then NQSW programmes and what lessons we could learn about how ASYE might be implemented
• tested the draft capability statements with employers, frontline practitioners and managers at a range of events and via our website during autumn/winter 2011
• consulted with the sector on the development of ASYE via a detailed proposals paper in autumn/winter 2011
• gathered advice and guidance throughout the development process from an ASYE technical group, including representatives from employers, HEIs, practitioners and professional bodies from across children's and adults' social work.

We extensively developed and refined the proposals, testing them with employers, HEIs, social workers and people who use social work services. Throughout the process the SWRB, its Careers Working Group and its Chairs' Group were kept informed and provided feedback on developments and emerging products.

A downloadable flowchart outlines the processes that were followed.

Responses to the proposals for ASYE

As mentioned above, a number of employers were involved in developing the ASYE model that built upon learning from the former NQSW frameworks to ensure that employers can effectively assess and support their newly qualified staff. The responses to proposals for ASYE report is downloadable here.

Click to return to the full range of ASYE pages.