Ever thought of a career in social work in a local council?

Come and join the team…

Social workers are professional people who make real, positive contributions to the lives of children, adults and families, in every part of the country.
Councillor Margaret Eaton, Chair of the Local Government Association

Social work is a rewarding career that really makes a difference. These web pages aim to help you find out more about what social work is, the people who do it, what they think about it, what makes it such an exciting challenge and how you could begin your career in social work.

Social work is all about supporting and protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities. Social work includes:

adult services, where the emphasis is on health, well-being and enabling people to maintain their independence;
children’s services, which involves support for young people helping them stay happy, healthy, successful and safe.

If you’re a council employer, you can now get involved in the Local Government Association’s campaign to boost the image of the social work profession, by downloading free posters promoting the great work that social workers do. Download the posters on the IDeA website.

Did you find what you were looking for in this section of the site? Is there anything missing? Let us know.

Video

In these films you can find out more about what it’s like to work in a local council as a social worker from the people who actually do the job. We’ve asked social workers in councils around the country to tell us about the work they do, why they do it, how they got into it and what they like about it.

To play the video, click the play button on the video player below. If you can’t see this then you may need to install Flash player on your computer.

Video transcript

Have you ever thought of becoming a social worker?

(Time: 00.05 – 00.56) Introduction

Councillor Margaret Eaton, Chairman of The Local Government Association:

“I’m Councillor Margaret Eaton and I’m Chairman of the Local Government Association. Social workers are professional people who make real, positive contributions to the lives of children, adults and families, in every part of the country. There are lots of reasons why social work is such a rewarding career and there are several ways of entering the profession. The video shows three professionals and explains how they joined the profession and it explains also why they love their work so much.”

(Time: 00.57 – 01.59) Combining training to be a social worker with a job
Alex Cole, Family Support Worker, Surrey County Council:

“I’m Alex Cole and I’m working for Surrey County Council and I’m about to start training as a social worker. My career to date has been very varied, I’ve done plenty of jobs, anything really from an air hostess to promotions for a magazine. But most of those jobs, whilst I enjoyed them, didn’t make my heart zing. Social work, on the other hand, is my passion.

I’m working as a Family Support Worker and prior to that I worked in adult services. I’m passionate about children and that’s why I wanted to transfer over to children’s services, I really enjoy what I do and I get extreme job satisfaction. The challenges that I’ve overcome have been personal ones. First and foremost I think, was that I didn’t previously believe that I could undertake a degree, I didn’t have the confidence to do it. Secondly, due to circumstances; I’m raising two young children and I wanted to be able to provide for them and also to develop a career that I’m absolutely passionate about.”

(Time: 02.07 – 03.13) Returning to social work
Harry Harrison, Child Protection Social Worker:

“I’m Harry Harrison and I’m a child protection social worker. I started in social work twice, the first time I wanted to be a journalist, had a job set up at the local paper, but when I turned up for work they’d given the job to somebody else. So I went down to the dole office to sign on and they said, “Well we can’t give you the dole if we can give you a job and you can work here!” And that’s how I started out. Working first of all with prisoners and aftercare when people came out of prison, and I met a lot of social workers and really liked the kind of work they were doing, so I then went into residential work, and Leicester City Council helped me to qualify and train. I did night school to get the right A levels to go to college.

Once I qualified I went into fieldwork, that’s out in the community working with families, children, older people, mental health. I said earlier that I started in social work twice and I came back into it for pretty much the same reasons I got interested in the first place. I mean apart from just making you feel alive, It’s just full of people and people are so interesting they’ve got lots of stories to tell and when you get involved with them, the days really go quickly.”

(Time: 03.20 – 04.55) Changing career to be a social worker
Juliette Blake, Social Worker, Hampshire County Council:

“I’m Juliette Blake, I’m a social worker in a reception and assessment team and I work with children and families. Initially I trained as a teacher. I spent 5 years in the classroom and at first I taught in a special measures school in Kent. I really enjoyed the challenge of that job. Then I moved to a very successful school in Norfolk, but didn’t really have the same passion for the job and decided that it was actually dealing with the social care issues that made me question whether or not I’d made the right career choice, so that’s when I actually decided to change my career and become a social worker.

Once I made the decision to retrain as a social worker, I tried to consider what routes I could retrain in. I looked at the Open University course but they’d only accept candidates who were actually in a social care setting. So I then made the decision to stop teaching, to go back to university and undertake a Masters in social work. During my social work training I had three placements and the first one was in a mental health team, the second one was in a children and families team, working in reception and assessment and the third placement was actually in a hospital setting. Undertaking those three placements, I really enjoyed the fast paced work in assessing families, so I made the decision to enter into the reception and assessment team once I’d qualified.

I’ve been qualified for a year and a half and the things that I really love about my job are being able to help families cope in times of crisis and also being able to help, or playing a crucial part in, safeguarding children as well.”

View another video about social work

Audio podcasts

Listen to our social worker podcasts…
Social Work is a highly rewarding career and one that makes a real and positive contribution to the lives of children, adults and families. There are a number of ways to become a social worker and in these podcasts we hear from three social workers who have entered the profession via different routes.

Hear from Alex, Harry and Juliette…

Like our podcasts about social work? Want to hear more? Tell us what you think.

Getting into social work

There are a number of routes in to social work, the information below shows the different ways of getting in, the kind of qualifications you will need and where to go for more information.

If you have just left school….
You could work towards a qualification in social care, such as an NVQ or Apprenticeship in Health and Social Care or Children’s Care, as these will give you practical experience in a social care setting, as well as gaining a useful qualification, which might help you enter a degree course later on.

Find out more about Apprenticeships in social care

If you’re currently studying for A-levels…
With a minimum of five GCSEs (A*-C equivalent, including English and maths) and two A-levels (or equivalent), you can apply for university courses to study towards the degree in social work.

Use the Department of Health’s course finder for further information about universities that run the social work degree.

If you’re a graduate…
You might be able to study towards a postgraduate qualification in social work, depending on the relevance of your first degree. Some universities might also run conversion courses.

Use the Department of Health’s course finder for further information about universities that run postgraduate qualifications in social work.

If you’re a career changer…
Skills and experience gained from previous jobs are always a bonus. You might have many transferable skills that will be useful in social work too, such as communication and report writing. However, you will also need some experience in a social care setting in order to start your career in social work.

Check out our social worker films and podcasts for more information about how a number of career changers got into social work.

Visit LGjobs.com for current vacancies in social work and other areas of care that might be a relevant starting point for you.

And don’t forget about volunteering…
Gaining relevant voluntary experience in a social care setting can be a really good way of finding out whether a career in social work is really for you. It can also help improve your skills, knowledge and experience, which will boost your application for social work training.

Find out more about available volunteering opportunities

On-the-job social work training

Speaking at the Association of Directors of Children Services conference in Manchester on 9 July, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families announced funding for a new, flexible way of qualifying as a social worker.

The new employment-based pathway will be delivered across England from 2011, providing a more flexible route for high quality graduates to complete their Master’s degree and qualify as a social worker in the children and families context.

It will help 200 high calibre mid-career changers such as teachers and lawyers to join the social work profession without having to return to full-time study.

The graduate professionals will be paid around £15,000 a year while training as social workers and their previous experience can be taken into account. Recruitment for this scheme starts now with the selection processes to identify participants starting in the new year.

To find out more about the new programme go to www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/social-work

Career profiles

There is lots of information available to help you find out more about a career in social work.

Read the social work career profiles, which tell you about the kind of daily tasks you might expect to do, the working hours and environment, the skills, experience and qualifications you might need and sign post you to further information that can help:

Read more about how you could progress your career in social work. Barbara is a service manager in a council and tells about how she has progressed from becoming a social worker, through to being a team manager and then a service manager.
Read Barbara’s story

And, find out more about what happens in a typical day – check out our social worker day in the life diary.

Come and join the team…
Visit www.LGjobs.com for current social work vacancies.