Department for Education pulls social work leadership programme

The Department for Education (DfE) says it will not be extending Frontline’s contract for the Pathways programme beyond the first two years.

Frontline, the fast-track social work training programme, said it had been waiting since December for the DfE to confirm the extension of its Pathways programme contract for two more years.

Those already on the programme will be able to complete it as planned, however delivery of the Pathways programme will cease at the end of July.

In a statement, Frontline said the news was “entirely unexpected”, adding that the programme had been running “extremely successfully with very positive feedback, and is highly-valued by the sector.” They say the DfE have been “absolutely clear” that the decision was not based on the quality or impact of the programme, but was rather due to budget decisions and departmental priorities.

“We only shared the decision with local authorities this morning and have already heard from a number of directors of children’s services and others expressing their disappointment at this announcement – we expect this response will grow as more hear the news,” the statement continued.

“This will be the first time since 2015 that there is no Government investment in social work leadership below director level. While we appreciate the Government is facing a difficult financial situation, the same is true of local authorities, and we believe that investing in leadership development for children’s social workers is crucial. It helps to ensure effective social work support for the hundreds of thousands of children and families that need it and creates an environment where social workers feel valued and empowered, which is vitally important given the current recruitment and retention crisis.

“We are continuing discussions with the Department for Education and have an upcoming meeting with children’s minister David Johnston to understand his plans for the gap this leaves for social workers and their leadership development, and to explore possible options going forward.”

The programme was set to provide leadership development for 2,000 more social work leaders and directors of children’s social care now say there is a gap in this provision.

Speaking on behalf of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), Nicola Curley, Chair of the Workforce Policy Committee, said: “There are workforce challenges right across social work and the Department for Education need to bear that in mind as they think about supporting the next generation of social work leaders.”

“This short notice ending of funding for the Frontline Pathways Programme leaves a gap in the support and development opportunities available to future leaders, and so it will be important that the Department works with the sector on what comes next to minimise any short term disruption to the workforce development offer. We would welcome the Department considering this holistically across the whole of the workforce.”