Category: Social Workers

Evidence Informed Practice in NHS Settings

Accessing research for practitioners

Research in practice work with and for professionals within social care, health, criminal justice and higher education to offer resources, learning opportunities and expertise. Anyone with a Trust email can sign up to start accessing their resources.

Research in practice brings together: research evidence, practice wisdom, and lived experience. Turning this into practical, accessible resources and learning opportunities that fit real‑life professional needs. [researchin…ice.org.uk]

At its heart, Research in Practice is about equipping professionals with the confidence and tools to use evidence well. Take a read of how one of our colleagues reflects on the similarities and differences of working in the NHS and local authority settings:

Evidence-informed practice in NHS settings | Research in Practice

Social work and the impact of the Covid pandemic

Reflections from the workforce

Source: UNISON

This report is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 social workers across the UK. It aims to shed light on the working conditions of social workers, and limitations on the help they are able to give vulnerable families. Staff shortages, unmanageable caseloads and long hours are identified by social workers as major concerns affecting their ability to do their job​s. More than three quarters of social workers said they had experienced increased stress levels and 77 per cent of respondents were worried about their mental health due to the pressure they’re under. Seven in ten also said morale has decreased and almost half said they​’re ​now less likely to stay in their jobs.

Social work and social care

Taking a strengths-based approach; a literature review

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

The primary aim of this review is to examine the development and the potential of strengths-based models in social work and the social care sector. The literature review will address questions around how these approaches impact on practice, and what this means for individuals in receipt of social care services and their carers or families.

This review identifies three overarching features of the terrain:
Generally, there are three broad groupings of literature: conceptual material; material on models; and grey literature; plus a small number of evaluative papers


Strengths-based approaches are comparatively more prevalent in social work than social care (which may not be surprising given its origins).

Strengths-based approaches are being embraced by policy makers but questions remain about: its definition (how it is distinct from other approaches, and how it should be conceptualised); its effectiveness and feasibility (including its intersection with local authority eligibility thresholds); and how it should/can be evaluated.

NIHR; Feb 2021

Support for mental health social workers

Guidance to develop the role across all mental health settings

This guidance is designed to support all agencies that employ social workers. It has been produced to sit alongside the Local Government Association’s employers’ guidance and give detailed advice and support to develop the social work role across all mental health settings and organisations. It is based on the learning from the ‘social work for better mental health’ programme, working across more than 70 organisations, assessing and developing their integrated arrangements.

For more information click here.

Social Workers and a new Mental Health Act

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Work, July 2019

Report in response to the Independent Review of the Mental health Act 1983, that calls on the Government and NHS Trusts to recognise the social factors of mental health distress and promote the social model of health within new mental health legislation. It also looks at the integration of health and social care, and how social workers’ role can be enhanced in new legislation, in order to uphold the human rights of children and adults suffering ill mental health. The report setsout four principles that should underpin new legislation:

  •  Choice and autonomy – ensuring service users’ views and choices are respected
  • Least restriction – ensuring the Act’s powers are used in the least restrictive way
  • Therapeutic benefit – ensuring patients are supported to get better, so they can be discharged from the Act
  • People as individuals – ensuring patients are viewed and treated as rounded individuals

Click here to view the full report.

Role and Responsibilities: Adult Principal Social Worker (PSW)

Department of Health and Social Care, July 2019

This guidance sets out the role, function and purpose of a PSW in adult services.It helps support employers when recruiting to the role of adult PSW and clarifies what social workers and other practitioners can expect from the PSW in their organisation.

Click here to view the guidance.

Capability Statement for Principal Social Workers in Adult Services

Department of Health and Social Care, July 2019

The capability statement sets out what a PSW in adult services should know and be able to do to ensure that effective professional social work practice is developed and supported within their organisation. It aims to support a move towards consistency in scope, autonomy, influence and impact of the PSW role across the whole sector.

Click here to view the statement.

Independent evaluation of the Think Ahead programme

Think Ahead, May 2019
The Think Ahead programme is a fast-track graduate scheme, offering graduates and career-changers a new route into mental health social work. This independent report contains an evaluation of the Think Ahead programme.  The findings of the report are mainly positive and the authors call for the programme to continue to be developed and supported.
Click here to view the full report.

Chief Social Worker for Adults' annual report: 2018 to 2019

Department of Health and Social Care, March 2019
This report sets out how social workers are taking a practice leadership role in delivering safe and best outcomes for people with health and care needs and the priorities over the coming year to further raise the quality and profile of adult social work across an integrated system.  It offers examples of social workers demonstrating leadership, professional oversight and co-operation with individuals, families and the wider health and care sector.  The report also looks at the way organisations collaborate across health, community and voluntary sectors to maintain people’s quality of life and independence.
Click here to view the full report.