People are drawn to train as social workers for a range of reasons – professional, personal and a desire to make a difference. Once qualified, having opportunities to continue to learn and train are an integral part of the job. This training and career support is something Essex County Council has been focusing on, says Paul McGee, head of Essex Social Care Academy: “There’s a very strong commitment to progression and development that’s very much led from the top.”
In Essex, the council is putting an emphasis on the importance of career progression at every stage, from apprentice to senior staff. It set up the social care academy in 2012 to offer continuing professional development and training in areas such as adult mental health, internet safety and understanding trauma for separated migrant children.
One of the benefits of the local authority is its size, says Michelle Hayden-Pepper, director of local delivery for south Essex children’s services. This provides lots of opportunities for practitioners to build up a diverse portfolio of experience. “One of our directors has only ever worked in Essex but she’s had about 10 completely different jobs. You can try out different things without having to leave,” she says.
Sylvia Chabata, a service manager for adult social care, is full of praise for the way directors in the social care department have supported her ambition to reach senior management. Originally from Zimbabwe, Sylvia first became interested in social work when her head teacher suggested she might be well suited to the profession. After qualifying, she worked for a year in Zimbabwe before coming to the UK. She initially worked for a London borough before joining Essex in 2014. Her experience has spanned working within HIV services, with unaccompanied asylum seeker children, and supporting those with disabilities.
Sylvia says of her current role: “It’s a privilege to be able to work with people when they are at those critical times in their lives, and to be able to make a difference.” That might involve supporting an adult who has suffered a devastating, life-changing injury, such as a brain injury or other complex disability, following an accident, for example. A social worker will also support the wider family and unpaid carers who are dealing with the impact on their lives too.
Within adult social care, there is an ongoing focus on equality, inclusion and diversity for practitioners and their clients. Sylvia was involved in supporting those taking part in the council’s Quest programme who were exploring the impact of race on working in adult social care. Afterwards, she was invited to reverse mentor one of the directors, who reciprocated with mentoring around career progression.
“It was an edifying experience for me,” she says. “I really appreciated the opportunity to talk about my experience as a professional black woman … and to influence the leadership team. I was pleased it led to other directors initiating reverse mentoring relationships as well. It was an empowering experience.”
Sylvia has also worked with an external leadership coach, and completed a leadership training programme. “I had become a solid operational manager but felt I needed to move to a more strategic role,” she says.
Social workers join the council through a variety of routes – as graduates, apprentices, through programmes such as Step up to social work, or as experienced practitioners from another council. Michelle says that the council is boosting retention by keeping caseload numbers down, providing monthly supervision, and introducing initiatives such as flexible working and a nine-day fortnight for frontline staff. There’s also investment in technology, such as tools that provide prompts to social workers writing reports and assessments.
It’s work that’s paying off. Essex children’s services were rated outstanding for the second time in its latest Ofsted report. Inspectors praised workers’ morale, adding: “They are rightly proud of their work with children … [and have] a genuine sense of belonging, safety and trust in managers, leaders and the organisation.”
Paul McGee – the head of Essex Social Care Academy – has spent 30 years as a qualified social worker and joined the local authority in 2017. He explains that the academy supports 3,000 staff across the adult and children’s social care divisions. As most take the same training modules, this creates flexibility in the workforce, enabling staff to cover, for example, emergency duty service, when they might have to work on adult mental health assessments and child protection needs.
There’s also a new apprenticeship scheme that gives participants practical experience of both children’s and adult services. “We’ve seen an increase in specialisation in social care in recent years, but an all-age approach supports what we need from the workforce,” Paul says. “It also supports people’s continuous professional development. There’s very little that isn’t on offer to both children’s and adult services staff.”
Michelle says a particular highlight of her year is the week she spends observing practice on the ground. “Seeing our staff, how hard they work, the relationships they have and how committed they are just blows me away,” she says. “Social work is an amazing career, and there are so many new skills you can learn and jobs you can do, whether that’s adult social care, youth justice, child protection, care leavers, separated migrant children, or risk in the community.”
Paul adds: “There’s a lot of scope for people to fashion their own career development path. Essex is a really innovative, grounded, authentic place to work and people are encouraged to be confident, autonomous practitioners.”
Do you have what it takes to make a difference? Find out more about a rewarding career in social care with Essex County Council
