Adult social workers should get on-the-job experience at a council as part of their training, a senior local authority director has said.
The British Association of Social Workers recently highlighted how councils were finding it difficult to offer enough statutory placements due to service cuts.
Joint chair of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’ workforce development network, Joan Beck, admitted it was hard for councils to do as much as they would like but insisted she supported statutory placements.
She said: ‘I am aware that there are people who go through their social work training without a statutory placement.
‘I do think that everyone should have a statutory placement. I think we’re all acutely aware of offering placements. It’s really good practice.
‘For a lot of social workers taking a student, the issue is will I have time to give the student the best deal? I think if we were able to free up more time for it so that people had protected caseloads there would be more enthusiasm for them. Having the time is the main issue.’
