A new social work leadership group is seeking practitioners' views on the future of the profession in Scotland.
The Scottish Social Work Partnership (SSWP) is calling for input - from social workers, other social care practitioners, students and leaders - on its priorities in relation to education and learning, workforce planning and the leadership of the profession.
The SSWP comprises the new National Social Work Agency (NSWA) within the Scottish Government, professional leadership body Social Work Scotland and COSLA, which represents the country's 32 local authorities.
Its remit is to support practitioners, influence policy, and promote the value of social work by aligning local and central government work, with an overarching aim of ensuring Scotland has a skilled and sustainable workforce.
The SSWP has launched an engagement exercise, which runs until the end of the year, to help it produce its first strategic plan, covering 2026-29 and due to be published in May next year.
Improving workforce planning
In relation to workforce planning, it said it wanted to build a clearer and more co-ordinated approach in order to better understand demand and "take practical steps to secure a sustainable workforce for the future".It said a working group had started work on this issue, which involved seeking to understand the current profile of the workforce and existing levels of demand for social workers and appraising the financial, geographic and other constraints facing the sector.
The partnership added that it wanted practitioners to respond to the following questions as part of the engagement process:
- What workforce challenges are most pressing in your area or service, and what is needed to address these challenges?
- What would make social work a more attractive and sustainable career?
- Are there local initiatives or ideas that could be tested to support recruitment and retention?
The future of social work education and leadership
In relation to social work education, it said it wanted respondents to share their thoughts on how to improve career pathways and tackle barriers to accessing professional development, and set out their preferred ways of learning and the educational opportunities they had found most valuable during their careers.On leadership, the partnership said current work included exploring the establishment of a development offer for senior leaders, including learning, mentoring and peer support, and proposals to update national guidance on the chief social work officer role.
It added that it wanted respondents to the engagement process to share their views on what good leadership looked like, how frontline staff could influence policy and practice and whether they felt their voices were heard in decision making.
How to respond
You can respond to the engagement process by filling in the partnership's online survey or mailing your feedback to NSWAcommunications@gov.scot.You can also sign up to receive regular updates from the partnership on its work.
