Local social workers for local communities

Councils across the UK are grappling with an acute shortage of social workers. Cornwall Council faces additional recruitment challenges due to its location, challenging transport links and fewer local options for face-to-face tuition.

Tracey Davey, Principal Child and Family Social Worker at Cornwall Council, says this prompted the organisation to take a very proactive approach to workforce planning.

We’ve had a social work traineeship since 2012. We can support up to 21 trainees at any one time and that’s really helped us to recruit and retain our staff.
Tracey Davey
Principal Child and Family Social Worker at Cornwall Council

The council formed a partnership with The Open University (OU), offering four social work qualifications – two at Level 6 and two at Level 7, they are a mix of apprenticeships, degree and postgraduate qualifications. This year, one of the postgrad qualifications – the postgraduate diploma in social work - is now being offered as an apprenticeship as well.

Herbi Williams, Staff Tutor at the OU, says students and employers benefit from the practical, flexible nature of the learning and the high level of support provided by the OU. “When people train as social workers, they’ll have a module tutor for the academic work and a practice tutor who is supporting them through the practical element of the assessment.” The employer arranges placements for students and Herbi says it’s a very collaborative approach, to ensure the best outcomes for everyone.

An attractive opportunity

As a result, the programmes have attracted people from a wide variety of backgrounds, from those early on in their career to those retraining later on in life. It has also helped the council recruit more men into the profession. One of them is Matthew Williams. Previously a teacher, Matthew is currently on the social work apprenticeship programme. “As someone who was born in Cornwall and still lives here, to be able to work in the community I live in and be able to give back to children and families is really important to me.”

Matthew really likes the mix of practical and academic learning and being able to fit the learning in around the demands of his job, without having to get in a car or on public transport. “Living in Cornwall can be really difficult with travelling – sometimes it takes a long time to travel a short distance so having a lot of learning online cuts out a lot of travel time.”

It was this flexibility and the ability to earn and learn at the same time that enabled Vicki Tremayne to fulfil her lifelong ambition of becoming a social worker, although she took the (non-apprenticeship) postgraduate diploma route. From the age of 18, she knew wanted to go into social work but “life took over, I got married and had kids.” As well as being a mother, Vicki is married to a farmer and lives in a rural location, so distance learning and the ability to study flexibly really work for her. “I can access the learning at my pace, at my time.”

I can access the learning at my pace, at my time.
Vicki Tremayne
Social Worker at Cornwall Council

Driving loyalty and retention

The council’s ‘grow your own’ talent strategy has paid dividends as over 100 social workers have graduated through the trainee route and stayed with the council. Lloyd Everington took his social work qualification through the council and feels a strong sense of loyalty towards his employer, given everything it has invested in him and his career.

For me, when I finished my apprenticeship there wasn’t really much consideration to work outside of Cornwall Council. I felt I need to give back as much as I can because I’m really grateful.
Lloyd Everington
Social Worker at Cornwall Council

Tracey says the social work team also benefit from the fresh perspectives and ideas that the new recruits bring with them. “People welcome them because they bring a richness in a sense of all their learning that they’re gaining from the course and from their practice educator support. They bring new tools, up-to-date research, new views about national policy and development.” She says recruits sometimes question how work is done and why certain procedures and practices are in place. “Things change over time and it’s refreshing for people to go ‘Why do you do it like that? Have you thought about doing it like this?’ It brings us new challenge as well.”