Half of English councils were given government funding to recruit social work apprentices to work in adults' services this year, the Department of Health and Social Care has revealed (DHSC).
The DHSC allocated £7.7m out of a possible £8m to 74 of the 153 local authorities in March 2024. It was due to provide a further £4m in 2024-25 but the incoming Labour government scrapped this in August as part of measures to make in-year savings in public spending.
The funding is designed to increase social work capacity in the adults' services workforce, in the context of 10.5% of roles being vacant as of September 2023.
Authorities were able to use up to £30,000 per apprentice on a range of costs including supervising the trainee, managing the apprenticeship programme, aspects of recruitment, constrasted learning experiences and travel.
They were barred from spending the money on salary, backfilling roles, the training provided by the relevant higher education institution - which is covered by the apprenticeship levy - and recruitment marketing costs.
Payments to individual authorities ranged from £30,000 - equivalent to one apprentice - to £300,000 (10 apprentices).
Those to receive the highest amount were all county councils - Essex, Kent, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire - though they were closely followed by the London Borough of Brent (£297,860).
In return for the funding, councils had to confirm they would be able to employ the apprentice for the rest of their (typically) three-year degree after the funding comes to an end in March 2025, and that the money was used to recruit additional apprentices beyond the number already planned for by the authority.
Councils will need to report to the DHSC on how they have spent the money and confirm that each apprentice has completed the first year of their course.
