12.1 Supervision

1. Introduction: Practice Guidance

The role of social worker brings with it a variety of challenges and complex situations practical, social, emotional. Social workers work closely with adults and families who are in need of support, often at a times of stress or crisis. All social work interventions begin with an assessment of the adult and their strengths and needs.

In order to understand the particular situation of the adult and their family / carers fully and to appreciate the challenges that they are facing and the outcomes that they want. social workers need to be able to build relationships with adults and families. This includes being able to form a professional assessment of how all elements of the adult’s life impact on them and to keep this under regular review so that risks can be identified and addressed.

When social workers start working with an adult, this is often a difficult time for the people involved. Help from the local authority may be rejected, people may be angry, suspicious, depressed, upset, defensive and anxious. Even when adults are welcoming of help, there remains the need to maintain an appropriate professional boundary.

In this complex and demanding role, supervision is the main mechanism to ensure that staff are supported, have the opportunity to talk about their work with other practitioners and can identify learning and development opportunities.

1.1 Learning and support

Through learning and support, social workers can:

• to reflect on and share their actions, feelings and concerns about their work in a safe environment with an experienced practitioner who can challenge, guide and encourage;
• actively engage with supervision that aims to help them uncover assumptions and analyse judgements, clarify the focus of their work and identify changes that they need to make to their approach;
• recognise when there are multiple and conflicting ideas, interpretations and perspectives to reach a professional judgement which takes account of the complexity of people’s lives;
• develop skills and identify strengths and areas for further learning so that social workers are aware of their own practice skills and any needs for training and development;
• feel supported so that they are able to continue to work well in a stressful and demanding environment with adults who may be at risk of, or experiencing, abuse or neglect;
• adopt a strengths based / asset based approach to assessment and care planning which is informed by the principles of the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005;
• review decisions to ensure that they are based on observation and analysis, exploring differences between opinion and fact and addressing any bias in situations of uncertainty to ensure that clear conclusions are reached and defensible judgements are made.

1.2 Management

1.2.1 Quality and accountability

Supervision helps to ensure:

• social work interventions are planned and monitored and that any risks are identified and escalated as needed;
• workloads are monitored to promote safe practice;
• the quality of work, and the decisions and actions are clear and in line with relevant legislation;
• a person-centred, holistic approach is taken to ensure that actions are proportionate to identified risks and  in line with relevant policies and procedures;
• there is a culture of focused and critical thinking which is informed by the views of the adult, carers and practitioners and a chronology of critical events, social, economic, emotional / mental health issues.

1.2.2 Strengths-based / asset based approach

This ensures that:

• practice reflects the requirements of the Care Act to ‘consider the adult’s own strengths and capabilities, and what support might be available from their wider support network or within the community to help’ in considering ‘what else other than the provision of care and support might assist the adult in meeting the outcomes they want to achieve’;
• an approach that looks at the adult’s life holistically, considering their needs in the context of their skills, ambitions, and priorities;
• the adult’s strengths are identified, including– personal, community and social networks – and these strengths are maximised to help people achieve the outcomes they want;
• support available from family and friends is considered in the light of their appropriateness, willingness and ability to provide this support, taking into account the impact on them;
• practitioners have time to research and become familiar with community resources and that time is allowed for assessments to be undertaken appropriately and proportionately.

2. Standards for Employers of Social Workers

The Local Government Association has produced standards for employers of social workers in England: Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England (Local Government Association).

The remainder of this chapter outlines those standards.

2.1 Purpose

The purpose of the standards is to sustain high quality outcomes for adults, their families, carers, and communities across three key areas:

1. enabling employers to provide a well led, professional environment;
2. enabling social work practitioners to maintain their professionalism;
3. enabling social work practitioners to practice more effectively.

2.2 The Standards

There are eight standards, as outlined below.

• Standard 1: strong and clear social work framework.
• Standard 2: effective workforce systems.
• Standard 3: safe workloads and case allocation.
• Standard 4: wellbeing.
• Standard 5: supervision.
• Standard 6: continuing professional development (CPD).
• Standard 7: professional registration.
• Standard 8: strategic partnerships.

Some of these standards relate to the wider organisation.

Standard 3, Standard 5 and Standard 6 relate to practice of supervision for frontline staff and managers.

3. Standard 3: Safe Workloads and Case Allocation

This standard is about ensuring  employees do not experience  excessive workloads, resulting in  unallocated cases and long waiting times for adults.

All employers should:

• use an agreed system to set transparent and safe workload levels in each service area;

• ensure that a social worker’s professional judgment about workload capacity issues is respected in line with the requirements of their professional registration (see Professional Standards, Social Work England https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/standards/professional-standards/) which refer to the requirement for a social worker to declare to the appropriate authority anything that might affect their ability to carry out their role competently to avoid affect -their fitness to practise;

• ensure that cases are allocated transparently and after prior discussion with the individual social worker. The social worker’s level of experience and their existing caseload should be considered;);
• ensure that a social worker’s professional judgment about workload capacity issues is respected in line with the requirements of their professional registration (Standard 7);
• take contingency action when workload demand exceeds staffing capacity; report regularly to strategic leaders about workload and capacity issues within services;
• publish information about average caseloads for social workers within the organisation as part of the Social Work Health Check  (Standard 1).

3.1 Useful information

Unison: workload management guidance

4. Standard 5: Effective and Appropriate Supervision

This standard is about making sure students and qualified practitioners can reflect critically on their practice through high-quality, regular supervision which is an integral part of social work practice. Starting with students on placement, continuing with the ASYE and then throughout the individual’s social work career.. Supervision should challenge students and help foster an inquisitive approach to social work.

Supervisors’ practice and skills should adhere to the Post Qualifying Standards for Social Work Practice Supervisors in Adult Social Care. Practice Educators supervising student social workers should adhere to the Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS).

4.1 Frequency of supervision

All employers should make sure that supervision takes place:

• regularly and consistently and lasts for at least an hour and a half of uninterrupted time;
• for students on placement – as agreed with students and programme providers;
• for newly qualified social workers – at least weekly for the first six weeks of employment, then at least fortnightly for the first six months, and a minimum of monthly supervision thereafter;
• for social workers who have demonstrated capability at ASYE level and above – in line with identified needs, and at least monthly.

In addition, the supervision policy should:

• place responsibility for that policy with the Principal Social Worker or other appropriate senior manager;
• require the actual frequency and quality of supervision to be monitored against local expectations.

4.2 Quality of supervision

All employers should:

• ensure that social work supervision is not treated as an isolated activity by incorporating it into the organisation’s social work accountability framework;
• promote continuous learning and knowledge sharing through which social workers are encouraged to draw out learning points by reflecting on their own practice in the light of experiences of peers;
• promote the use supervision as an opportunity for social workers to critically reflect on, and identify their learning needs, using evidence, research and other social work frameworks where appropriate;
• actively use Social Work England’s Professional Standards as the basis for supervision, including evaluating capability and identifying development needs, ensuring that social workers are able to draw on and use additional resources such as the Professional Capabilities Framework and Knowledge and Skills Statements to develop their day-to-day practice and skills base;
• ensure that supervision supports students and qualified social workers to meet the Social Work England Professional Standards;
• encourage social workers to plan, reflect on and record Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity, including logging it online with Social Work England;
• ensure that coaching and action learning opportunities are core components of the supervision offer to social workers;
• provide regular supervision training for social work supervisors;
• assign explicit responsibility for the oversight of appropriate supervision and for issues that arise through supervision;
• provide additional professional supervision by a registered social worker for practitioners whose line manager is not a social worker.

4.3 Useful information

Supervision (Social Work England) 

UK Supervision Policy (BASW)

5. Standard 6: Continuing Professional Development

This standard is about social workers being provided with the time and opportunity to learn, keep their knowledge and skills up to date, and critically reflect on the impact this has on their practice. They are required to demonstrate this learning as part of their regulatory requirement to meet Social Work England’s professional standard relating to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (see Social Work England Professional Standard 4).

5.1 Employers should provide opportunities for regular and effective CPD

CPD is the reflection and learning activity that social workers undertake throughout their career to maintain and improve their practice. It is an important part of a social worker’s professional standards. By undertaking and recording CPD, a social worker demonstrates to the public, their regulator and their employer that they uphold those professional standards.

It is important that employers provide their social workers with time and opportunities to carry out regular and effective CPD, fostering an open learning culture where social workers are supported through supervision to carry out learning activities that they feel benefit them and their practice.

5.2 Supporting staff development

All employers should:

• have effective induction systems and put in place tailored support programmes for ASYEs, including protected development time, a managed workload, tailored supervision and personal development plans;
• have an appraisal or performance review system which assesses how well professional practice is delivered (including feedback from people who have lived experience of the social worker’s practice) and identifies a learning and development plan to support the achievement of objectives;
• provide dedicated time, resources, opportunities and support for social workers to carry out CPD and record it in line with Social Work England requirements;
• have fair and transparent systems to enable social workers to develop their professional skills and knowledge throughout their careers through an entitlement to formal and informal CPD, specialist training and development as appropriate.

5.3 Promoting research based practice

All employers should:

• provide support and information to enable social workers to progress through post-qualifying specialist training and access nationally funded development support programmes that will allow them to develop their knowledge, skills and practice and, in some cases, update their registration to reflect a specialism;
• encourage social workers to work towards and maintain professional accreditation where it is available;
• encourage social workers to think creatively about their CPD activity, consider learning they already undertake, online resources, and to draw from their work towards post-qualifying frameworks and accreditations;
• encourage social workers to consider their ethics and values in relation to their practice (Social Work England professional standard 4) and emphasise the importance of reflecting on the impact of their learning.

5.4 Useful information

ASYE Information, resources and case studies

BASW: Continuing Professional Development Policy

Research in Practice for Adults (RIPFA)

Skills for Care: continuing to develop social workers

Professional Standards and Guidance (Social Work England)

6. Further Reading

6.1 Relevant information

Standards for Employers of Social Workers in England (Local Government Association)

Professional Standards and Guidance (Social Work England)