UPDATE NO 417 21 August 2020

Wellbeing for Education Return

The DfE and DHSC have jointly written (4 August) to all LA Chief Executives announcing additional grant funding to assist LAs to work with local partners to tailor and deliver wellbeing and mental health training and support for education settings this autumn.

If you have any queries, please contact Wellbeing.EducationReturn@education.gov.uk

This is a support offer with two parts: a new, nationally developed training package for education staff; and funding for local authorities to appoint one or more local experts to work with local partners to adapt this training to your local context, deliver it to nominated staff in education settings, and provide ongoing advice and support until March 2021.

The letter includes a 13-page delivery pack explaining the scheme in detail.

Coronavirus: children and young people’s mental health advice

DfE has updated the advice for parents and carers on looking after the mental health and wellbeing of children or young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It includes translated documents in: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese CN, Chinese HK, French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu.

The guidance is available here: COVID-19: guidance on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

The advice is to help adults with caring responsibilities look after the mental health and wellbeing of children or young people, including those with additional needs and disabilities, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Guidance for looking after your own mental health and wellbeing is also available, and also translated into other languages.

For wider information on how to protect yourself and others, please see Coronavirus (COVID-19): what you need to do.

DfE publications concerning (mainly) schools

1. The latest guidance on financing for LA maintained schools, following consultation, and due for implementation from April 2021. 

2. Addendum to the admissions code and registration that adds a new category of non-attendance due to covid-19, such as self-isolation. 

3. A further scheme for laptops for disadvantaged pupils affected by the need for shielding or local lockdown.

4. Overall figures for school capital allocations for 2020-21 shows a small overall increase, together with an increased shift towards MATs and away from LA maintained.

5. The latest DfE list of the timing for resumption of data collections for LAs and schools. 

Future dates for Network meetings

AD Safeguarding: Friday 11 September 2020 – more information from Mark Evans (contact details below) 

QA Network: Thursday 17 September 2020 – more information from Diane Williamson (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 15 September 2020 – more information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Joint meeting of AD Education and SEND SE19: Friday 25 September 2020 – more information from Chris Owen or Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Tuesday 20 October 2020 – more information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

Models of Social Work Practice – SESLIP Report now published

Now published: Models of Social Work Across the Region.

We decided that, in the absence of being able to go ahead with the Models of Social Work Conference in June, the information gathered from the  “Call for Evidence” should be written up and shared. This has now been completed and the final document provides information about Family Safeguarding Model, Signs of Safety, the Hampshire Approach, the Team Around the Relationship bespoke model developed by Brighton and Hove and Connected Practice developed by East Sussex.

This provides a useful resource, outlining the overview of each model with key features and evidence; who uses the models; evaluation and impact; drivers and challenges and funding and costs. There is also a list of lead contacts for each model. Many thanks to all that have contributed to the development of this comprehensive resource.

Further information at the New Models of Social Work page or from Diane Williamson (contact details below)

Social work fast track programmes: tracking study interim report

Social Worker Fast Track Programmes Review – The DfE has published an interim report with findings from a study of the longer-term outcomes of the social work fast track programmes, Frontline and Step Up to Social Work in England. 

It covers attrition rates from social work for the latest cohorts of both programmes at 6 months, 18 months and 3 years.

It also investigates how well prepared the graduates felt; their employment destinations; early experiences of social work; career progression; job satisfaction; reasons for leaving the profession

Findings show that six months after qualifying as social workers, both fast-track programmes appear to have lower attrition rates from social work than can be seen in the statistics on other social work graduates in England; and 36% of Frontline graduates in social work responding to the survey had progressed to at least senior social worker level.

Read the report: Social work fast track programmes: tracking retention and progression (PDF)

DfE Children’s Services Omnibus Survey – Wave 5 published

The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report with findings from the fifth wave of the DfE Children’s Services Omnibus Survey which explored senior local authority leaders in England’s perceptions on: 

• social care workforce
• implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms
• early years pupil premium
• use of children’s social care data
• home learning environment
• local authority leadership

Wave 1 (August 2017) covered understanding demand for children’s social care services; support for adopters and special guardians; monitoring of the early years and childcare workforce; assessment of the sufficiency of childcare places; systems for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Wave 2 (November 2017) covered reducing demand for children’s social care services; assessment of mental health needs; care orders, supervision orders and special guardianship orders; early years entitlement and early years workforce training; business sustainability support to childcare providers; challenges when providing special educational needs services

Wave 3 (May 2018) covered social worker workforce; multi-agency arrangements; sufficiency of care/adoption placements; early years home learning; environment and parenting programmes; recruitment of early years staff; development of education, health and care plans; short breaks for disabled children and their families

Wave 4 (December 2018) covered using independent schools for looked after children; child protection and children in need; personal advisers for those leaving care; multi-agency arrangements; early education entitlements; monitoring special educational needs services

Promoting the Retention, Mental Health, and Wellbeing of Child and Family Social Workers: A Systematic Review of Workforce Interventions

What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC), in association with its research partners at CASCADE, Cardiff University, has published a systematic review of workforce interventions. The interventions outlined are designed to improve the retention, mental health and wellbeing of child and family social workers. 

Findings suggest a number of promising interventions, particularly organisational level interventions. However, the report highlights that there is very little high quality or consistent evidence available, and more research is needed in this area.

The full report is here: Promoting the Retention, Mental Health, and Wellbeing of Child and Family Social Workers: A Systematic Review of Workforce Interventions