Why we are here
The current children’s social care system does not always prioritise relationships between practitioners and children and families, nor does it enable practitioners to do their best work and provide job satisfaction.
20%
of their time with children and families with approximately 80% spent on paperwork and navigating bureaucracy.
BASW, 202056%
of social workers shared a focus on targets rather than resolving issues for people was a cause of job-related stress.
Social Work England, 202028%
of practitioners surveyed citing the amount of paperwork being a reason and 20% saying it was because they could not make the best use of their skills and experience.
Department for Education, 2019“Children's social care is complicated, bureaucratic and too often risk averse, and this has the combined effect of taking social workers’ time away from practice and reducing their ability to support children and families.”
Independent Review of Children's Social Care (2022)
Children’s Social Care is beset by a recruitment and retention crisis
As of 2023, children’s social workers quitting their posts annually has risen by 40% in five years (Department for Education, 2023). For the first time since the census began, councils lost more staff than they gained. The time for change is now.
We believe that there will be no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model for reducing bureaucracy in children’s social care and to address the recruitment and retention crisis. We advocate for, and deliver, a practitioner-led approach to developing a new way of working, grown in and tailored to local contexts. Our work creates change that allows for more time to be spent in direct practice, and results in staff feeling more valued and connected to their work, impacting positively on job satisfaction and morale.
“75% of practitioners who took part in the Crescendo project in London Borough of Wandsworth believed that the project had positively impacted their job satisfaction to a moderate or large extent. All respondents (100%) believed that the project had positively impacted how effective they are as a team to a moderate or large extent. All of the respondents believed the project had increased the amount of time that they or their team spent in direct work with children, young people or families to a moderate or large extent. ”