Frontline shares Government recommendations
England’s largest social work charity, Frontline, has today released its Snapshot of children’s social work 2024 report after surveying 570 children’s social workers. From the findings, the charity is sharing three key recommendations for both national and local government, to make social work better for children and families:
- To reduce pressure on families and therefore children’s services, national and local government must make child safety a priority, starting with tackling child poverty and extra-familial harm.
- At a local level, the support available to families needs to be improved, through better social work leadership, improved workplace culture, joined-up services and more time spent with families.
- A national campaign is needed to change the perception of social work as a profession. This would increase the appeal of social work as a career and help existing social workers feel appreciated, bolstering recruitment and retention. It would also help challenge the stigma families face when they have a social worker, making them feel more comfortable about engaging with services
Read the full report
As well as sharing recommendations for the new Government, Frontline is sharing the key data collected from speaking with social workers across England, including:
- 72% of social workers identified poverty as one of the top structural problems impacting the lives of children and families they work with
- 70% of social workers reported a rise in the number of families they work with accessing benefits
- 85% of social workers reported a rise in the number of families they work with using food banks
- 79% of social workers said they had seen a rise in young people being at risk of extra-familial harm
- 70% of social workers reported a rise in criminal exploitation
- 60% of social workers reported a rise in sexual exploitation
- Nearly 60% of social workers reported a rise in online harm
- 43% of social workers who have been in the role for one to two years said they plan to leave in the next two to three years
- Only 11% of social workers said they can achieve their job’s purpose to a great extent
- 64% of social workers said high caseloads are the main barrier to doing their job well
- 60% of social workers said they don’t think they see each child that they are responsible for often enough
- 91% of social workers feel that they are perceived negatively by the public
- 94% believe this perception negatively affects them in their work with children and families
We wanted to hear directly from social workers working day-in and day-out with the children and families – all so that we could listen to what is really happening for people across the country and share urgent recommendations for Keir Starmer’s new government.
Snapshot of children’s social work 2024 shines a light on the state of social care and the challenges facing children and families who need the support of a social worker across England. Sadly, it echoes previous findings that the sector has been aware of for a long time. Not nearly enough has changed in terms of improving support for children, families and social workers and now the challenges are compounded by worsening poverty and the rise of extra-familial harms. Social workers shared details on what support they need to ensure they can continue doing their jobs – something which national government needs to consider when considering how to address the current workforce retention crisis. Policy makers must listen to social workers’ voices to make real change in the sector; for social workers themselves, and for the children and families who rely on their support.” Mary Jackson, Frontline’s chief executive
For more information and for the opportunity to speak with Mary Jackson, Frontline’s chief executive, please contact communications@thefrontline.org.uk