Longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers (Wave 5) Research Report

Johnson, Claire, Jouahri, Sophia, Earl, Shannon, White, Yasmin, Woods, Daisy, Pollock, Sarah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1106-6705, Scholar, Helen and McCaughan, Susan (2023) Longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers (Wave 5) Research Report. In: Longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers. Research Report. Department for Education (UK Government), London. ISBN 9781838704858

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Abstract

In 2018, the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned a consortium led by IFF Research, working with social work academics at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford, to conduct a longitudinal study tracking the careers of local authority child and family social workers in England. This landmark study aimed to collect robust evidence on recruitment, retention and progression in child and family social work (CFSW) by tracking individuals over a five-year period. In Wave 1, 5,621 local authority (LA) child and family social workers in England took part in the survey between November 2018 and March 2019, comprising almost one in six of local authority child and family social workers in England. This report covers all five annual waves of the survey, investigating trends over time, with a focus on the latest period of fieldwork (Wave 5). Wave 5 fieldwork consisted of 1,283 completed surveys conducted between September and November 2022 (for the main survey) and a further 245 completed surveys with newly qualified child and family social workers who were doing or had recently completed their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). The main survey sample constitutes of a starting sample established at Wave 1. This enables longitudinal analysis of respondents who have completed all five waves of the research. Also at each wave, ASYE respondents who completed the previous wave are invited to take part in the main survey. However, because these respondents joined the main survey after Wave 1, they are not included in the longitudinal sample. Analysis within this report is based on a wave-on-wave snapshot of the main survey findings for each wave. Chapter 2 focuses specifically on the longitudinal findings, based on respondents who have completed every wave of the research.