How Wigan Council’s new way of working is supporting Children’s Social Workers

Source: (24) How Wigan Council’s new way of working is supporting Children’s Social Workers | LinkedIn

By Sandie Hayes, Practice Director for Children’s Social Care at Wigan Council

Children’s social work is a rewarding career which makes a huge difference to the lives of young people and their families.  At Wigan Council we also recognise the considerable strains that social workers face on a daily basis – from high workloads to long work hours. They work tirelessly to safeguard our community’s most vulnerable individuals but face challenges that not only affect them professionally but can also impact personal well-being.

In our ongoing commitment to innovation and improvement, we are proud to introduce a new safeguarding model aimed at providing robust support to our dedicated social workers by removing many of those pressures while also improving outcomes for families by successfully reducing risk of harm to children.

In June, we launched our new Family Safeguarding model; a way of working which has already been transformative for other Local Authorities, where Ofsted has praised the approach for improving the quality of practice and supervision. It enhances support for families to identify their strengths and crucially, it helps more families stay together.

For our social workers, this means a streamlined way of working that will reduce workloads and give more time for completing the tasks which matter the most. It is multi-agency working in the truest sense; social work teams will no longer work independently, instead substance misuse, mental health and domestic abuse practitioners will all be sat by their side, working with them and their families on a daily basis.

Wigan Council has adopted this model following independent evaluations by several other councils which have found it significantly improved outcomes for children, including reductions in the numbers of children becoming looked after and being subject to child protection plans.

Family Safeguarding has a proven track record in keeping more children at home safe with their parents. This not only delivers better outcomes for children and their families but also frees up social workers and other professionals involved to undertake work that has a greater impact for those who need it. We know that social workers work more effectively and are better equipped to practice if they have the right tools to do the job.

As a council we have already seen significant growth in our permanently employed staff to over 80 per cent. This new model has allowed us to create additional teams and reduce the number of families our social workers are supporting. So, if you are passionate about social work and want a fresh way of working with families to achieve change, which can help reduce workloads and reduce pressures that are all too common in this role, then we’d love to hear from you.

Take a look at our remaining permanent social worker vacancies that just may be your next career move.