'A new approach to supporting and retaining social workers'

By Dr Laura Cook

The reasons why social workers leave their roles are well known. They include high caseloads, reduced resources and burnout. However, we also know that many social workers stay, thrive and enjoy long careers in the profession.

Based on two pieces of research, the University of East Anglia (UEA) has launched a theory of change for supporting and retaining social workers in statutory services. Key recommendations from the approach will be tested across the five health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland, in a pilot starting later this year.

The first study that underpins the theory captured the voices of 58 long-serving child and family social workers across 11 local authorities in England. We wanted to learn from experienced stayers about how best to retain social workers.

The importance of social work identity to retention

We found that a strong sense of professional identity was key to retention, a finding echoed by the 2020 All-Ireland Study on what shapes social workers’ identities.

For experienced stayers, social work is part of their core identity - a defining feature of who they are. This strong sense of identity acts as a buffer to the stresses of the role. However, threats to workers’ sense of professional identity can push them to leave the profession.

We found that staying in the profession over the long term involved navigating critical career episodes (CCEs).

'Stay or go' moments in a social workers' career

CCEs are defining ‘stay or go?’ moments in social workers’ careers that are emotive, challenging and represent an identity threat.

CCEs arise when social workers experience misalignment between their practice and their professional identity - for instance, wanting to help the children and adults they work with, but finding themselves unable to do so due to organisational constraints.

During CCEs, workers ask themselves difficult questions like: ‘Who am I as a professional? What is my purpose? Can I be the sort of social worker I want to be? And if not, how do I reconcile myself to this?’

Resolving critical career episodes

Resolving CCEs involves reflection, time and sensitively-delivered support.

Where social workers are able to resolve a CCE, this can lead to transformative learning. Where workers are unable resolve CCEs they may experienced burnout, became cynical or think about leaving.

Effective support for social workers during CCEs is therefore important for their sense of identity and retention.

The research also identified three key factors that support and sustain ongoing professional identity development and support retention: mobility, specialism and ‘generativity’ (experienced practitioners nurturing the next generation of social workers).

A theory of change to support retention

The second study extended the research to include adult and mental health social workers, approved mental health professionals (AMHPs) as well as early-career social workers.

In consultation with 51 social care professionals, a theory of change was developed to support workforce development and retention across the career span.

The intervention at the heart of the theory of change is two-pronged.

The first is support to manage CCEs as well as opportunities to reflect and generate learning from them. The second involves offering opportunities for specialism, generativity and mobility, recognising that social workers' development and identity needs vary by career stage.

Drawing on experienced social workers

Crucially, the theory of change suggests that drawing on the untapped generativity of experienced social workers, via initiatives such as legacy mentoring for those at the start of their careers, is key to retaining both experienced and early-career workers. Legacy mentors are experienced workers, usually in late career, who provide mentoring and support to professionals at an earlier career stage.

Providing opportunities for generativity forms a virtuous circle. It motivates experienced social workers to stay, supports the retention of early career workers and allows the organisation to benefit from the accumulated knowledge and expertise of the experienced staff, which might otherwise be lost.

The theory of change provides a blueprint for local authority workforce development, guidance and reflective tools for practitioners and sets out the necessary conditions for successfully embedding the model within organisations.

Piloting the approach in Northern Ireland

The Department of Health (DoH) in Northern Ireland said the research findings resonated with social work leaders in the country and fitted with its work to improve practitioner wellbeing and retention, resulting in the forthcoming pilot of the theory of change.

The project, a collaboration between the DoH, the five health and social care trusts and Queen’s University Belfast, will focus on strengthening professional identity, improving wellbeing and retention, and supporting experienced, mid-to-late career social workers in their roles.

Each trust will pilot a key recommendation from the theory of change, including: developing the team as a secure base, legacy mentoring, providing a space for team leaders to reflect on their own professional identity as well as supporting the professional identity of those they manage, and promoting specialisms as part of a social work career pathways.

The project will commence in September 2025 and will be evaluated by Professor Davy Hayes at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Dr Laura Cook is associate professor in social work at the University of East Anglia