National Workload Action Group meeting summary – 20 May

The National Workload Action Group (NWAG) is developing recommendations for reducing social worker workload.

NWAG meetings bring together local authority representatives and key stakeholders in the social work sector to develop resources and provide suggestions to the Department for Education (DfE) about addressing unnecessary workload drivers.

In the NWAG meeting on 20 May, members explored the following:

Government reforms  

Madeleine Percival from DfE gave a presentation to situate the work of NWAG within the context of the government’s plans. She outlined the government’s vision for reforming the children’s social care system, referencing Stable Homes, Built on Love.

It was explained that NWAG is just one part of the national strategy to improve workforce stability by:

• Increasing recruitment.
• Improving retention.
• Reducing unnecessary workload drivers.

Feedback on the NWAG interim report

Veronica Berti from DfE provided feedback on an interim report produced by Research in Practice that outlined the group’s proposed priorities for addressing workload challenges. DfE selected a shortlist of priority areas by considering what is:

• Most deliverable in 2024.
• Most likely to impact workload reduction.
• Most relevant to the ‘unnecessary workload’ theme.

Members discussed ideas for how to deliver useful outcomes in the selected priority areas:

1. Managerialism and admin.
2. Supervision.
3. Work/caseload management.
4. Case recording.
5. Hybrid working.

For more information on the report, please refer to the March meeting summary.

What next?

NWAG members will join subgroups to suggest and review ideas for potential resources in the five priority areas. These resources will then be tested by social work practitioners and local authority representatives in the Review, Testing and Implementation Network (RTIN).  

NWAG meetings are scheduled to be held every two months until March 2025.