25 March 2026

How Approach Social Work is strengthening practice during reform

Luton shares how it continued to deliver Approach Social Work during reform and what other local authorities can learn from its experience.

Luton is one of the Department for Education’s Families First pathfinder areas and a partner with Approach Social Work (formerly known as the Frontline programme). As the children’s social care reforms take shape across England, the local authority has reshaped local services, aiming to protect relationship-based practice and the learning environment for trainee social workers.

Embedding Approach Social Work within the new model has helped make that possible. Several decisions proved key to making that transition as smooth as possible.

Central to Luton’s approach was involving the consultant social worker, Priscilla Chumbu, from the very beginning. Priscilla leads the Approach Social Work hub – the group of trainee social workers placed within the local authority – and attended briefings and training about the reforms from the outset, even before her hub transitioned into the new model. Strong support from local authority leadership – who provided clarity, briefings and access to training – meant Priscilla could understand the evolving model fully, contribute to planning and communicate clearly with participants.

“Involving the consultant social worker from the outset is very helpful,” she said. “It reduces anxieties because I can explain what is happening.”

Luton also sequenced change carefully. The pod in which the hub now sits transitioned later in the reform process, after initial operational challenges had been identified and addressed elsewhere.

“The challenges that other teams experienced, we didn’t,” Priscilla explained. “This is what Luton did best, which ended up alleviating challenges.”

A new home for the hub

As part of the reforms, the authority introduced family help neighbourhood teams, bringing social workers and family help practitioners together in integrated pods. The child protection team now works more closely alongside the multi-agency safeguarding hub; and housing, mental health and domestic abuse specialists are based within the same service. For children, this means professionals working more closely together around them.

Luton’s Approach hub, whose participants are in the first year of the programme, moved from a family safeguarding team into a family help pod. Children are now allocated to the hub directly from the front door. Trainees are often the first point of contact, completing single assessments and, where appropriate, continuing to support the child.

This move has given participants a broader range of experience, with trainees encountering work from emerging needs to statutory assessment within one locality team, gaining exposure across early help, child in need and child protection.

“It’s more stable for both the participants and the families,” Priscilla said. “Once a participant is allocated a family, they are the first person to be in contact in relation to the intervention.”

That continuity matters. It enables participants to build relationships from the outset and see the impact of their decisions over time.

“Approach Social Work and the reforms are quite compatible,” Priscilla reflected, noting that participants were already familiar with many of the principles being strengthened through Families First.

Throughout the changes, deliberate steps were taken to protect the learning environment. The hub remained under the same management, maintaining leadership stability during a period when other teams experienced structural and location changes.

However, the transition was not without pressure. The reforms coincided with workforce changes and increased caseloads in parts of the service, though caseloads have since stabilised. Jade Webb, social work academy manager and Approach Social Work project manager for Luton, emphasised the importance of careful planning when supporting participants through reform – particularly when it comes to the transition into year two. This includes thinking about how to prepare newly qualified social workers, ensuring they receive the shadowing, support and training they need and holding transition meetings between the consultant social worker and any incoming manager early on.

Even experienced social workers found the transition demanding and Priscilla worked proactively to manage anxieties within the hub, starting communication early and explaining the reforms clearly to participants and the wider team.

A two-way exchange

Beyond individual development, Approach Social Work participants have brought new ideas, learning and theory into the wider team, sparking fresh conversations around systemic approaches and reflective practice.

Participants are paired with social workers to observe different approaches and develop confidence in reflective discussion. Deputy consultant social workers have engaged in training and direct work alongside participants, building future practice educator capacity within the authority.

The integration of the hub within the wider service has been further strengthened by co-location with other specialists. Housing officers, benefits specialists and other professionals are now based in the same office space.

“If participants have issues with housing, it’s easier to consult,” Priscilla said. “You can walk to their desk.”

Lessons from Luton

“The hub is really integrated,” said Jade Webb, who has seen the placement evolve since the reforms began. For her, that integration is not just a structural outcome – it reflects the quality of the relationships and working practices that have developed between participants and the wider team.

Luton’s experience shows that the reforms and Approach Social Work go hand in hand. As Priscilla reflects, many of the principles being strengthened through the reforms are already at the heart of the programme.

Involving the consultant social worker and those who work closely with the hub from the very beginning means participants are better prepared, anxieties are managed early and the hub can transition smoothly alongside the rest of the service – contributing to a more settled experience for the whole team during a period of significant change.