Social Work Practice pilot sites

SCIE supports innovation in social care. The Social Work Practice (SWP) pilots for adult services are an important new development. We have been asked by the Department of Health to project-manage them. The programme puts social workers in key positions in delivering social care. The aim is to place people who use services at the heart of decision-making.

SCIE looks forward to adding to the evidence base about social work practice. We will do this by sharing the findings from the pilot sites with the social care sector. Social enterprises are being used is an important feature of the SWP. So, the SWPs will be led by social workers. They may employ other social workers and other professionals with a range of skills.

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The SWP sites will be able to develop a range of social work responses:

• care management with people
• work with people who do not currently come into contact with local authorities
• developing innovative responses to people’s needs
• increasing people’s independence and interdependence in communities.

The Social Work Practice pilot sites are located in Birmingham, Lambeth, North East Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, Surrey and Stoke. The sites aim to be centred around people who use services. They will be smaller than local authorities which should allow them to be more responsive in their decision making. One advantage is that they may offer more face to face time with people who use services.

It’s important to point out that the SWP pilot sites can develop social work practice to augment and complement the skills of the local authority. They can also develop access to social work, information and advice for people not currently accessing local authority support.

The pilots

• BirminghamOpen

  The pilot will trial a new way of working, focusing on people with physical disabilities. It is aimed at helping people to be more active and independent. It will provide a new landscape for promoting and building the networks needed to support people in their own communities. This will be achieved using resources more flexibly, to ensure a sustainable infrastructure.

  Social work teams will be attached to user-led organisations and enablement services. They will therefore be able to develop an ‘enhanced offer’ to disabled people. This will allow social workers to work far more closely with individuals and in communities.

• LambethOpen

  This pilot is part of the council’s vision for Lambeth to become a Cooperative Borough. The pilot will establish itself as one of the council’s “early adopters” of new ways of delivering services, through mutuals and social enterprises. Lambeth’s vision is of a social-worker led team offering early intervention to people with lower level need. These people would not usually have support from statutory adult social care services.

  Lambeth will work in partnership with local people in innovative and creative ways, right from their first contact. They will do this by advising people who are managing their own care needs; by reaching out to all parts of the community; and by helping people keep themselves safe from harm and independent. The pilot will build on the success of the council’s work developing more personalised care for people living in Lambeth.

• North East LincolnshireOpen

  This site is looking for innovation. The client group is older people and people with physical, sensory or learning disabilities. The new SWP will work very closely with communities, GPs, other care practitioners and specialists.

  People who use services, their families and carers, will help assess needs and develop tailored personal plans. The aim is to prevent problems that can lead to worsening health, going to hospital or admission to residential or nursing care.

• ShropshireOpen

  Shropshire’s new Social Work Practice pilot scheme will involve the creation of a not- for-profit social enterprise. The scheme aims to support up to 1800 residents throughout the county. The team will test a different approach to assessing older people, people with a physical disability and those with learning disabilities by:

  • providing information, support, assessment and advice to maximise independence through rehabilitation and reablement
  • providing advice, support and access to assistive technologies
  • allocating personal budgets to those who are eligible
  • exploring alternative options when developing support plans
  • arranging services and organising support
  • carrying out carers’ assessments and reviews
  • developing peer support networks.

• Stoke-on-TrentOpen

  The practice will provide assessment and case management to people with Long Term Neurological Conditions (LTnC) specifically Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Motor Neurone Disease. The practice will operate as a social enterprise, led by a voluntary sector organisation in partnership with an independent social work practitioner.

  In addition, the practice will support service users with low level needs focusing on prevention, early intervention and timely engagement. It will also include support for family members and carers. The practice will work closely with a range of health and social care professionals to ensure a holistic approach to service delivery and improved outcomes. The views and experiences of service users and carers will be at the heart of the practice during its development, and throughout implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

• SuffolkOpen

  The Suffolk project will support adults with sensory impairments. There will be statutory assessments of individuals and carers, plus early intervention, support planning and care management. The principle aim of the project is to improve outcomes and to provide more choice for people with sensory impairment. It is hoped that this can be achieved through working more creatively with partners to establish better resources in Suffolk.

  Services will include; social work; rehabilitation; dual sensory services assessments; advice and guidance; equipment for people with hearing impairments; and British Sign Language or English interpreters. To deliver the service, Suffolk County Council will establish a social worker-led company.

• SurreyOpen

  People with sensory loss have recently benefitted from a co-designed commissioning strategy in the county. One of the outcomes is to evaluate the feasibility of providing deaf services independently of the local authority. This would be delivered by a new form of organisation, based on a social enterprise model. The SWP will provide a platform to trial these plans. Services will be dedicated to person-centred support, with more people managing their own budgets and accessing community services. The Council says it is very excited about the potential to further improve outcomes for residents. The Social Work Practice project also sees the involvement of the Association of Directors of Social Services, The College of Social Work, the British Association of Social Workers, the National Council for Independent Living and the Local Government Group.

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