Social workers to be licenced in response to Baby P failings

Social workers should need a licence to practise, the social work task force set up by the government after the death of Baby Peter has recommended.

Its report recommends that social work should be a degree qualification and social workers should complete a probationary year before qualifying for a licence .

Employers will also be expected to agree standards on caseloads, as well as improving pay for the most experienced frontline staff so that career progression to management posts does not remove them from practise, according to the BBC.

The government has said that it will accept the recommendations, which include the setting up of a national college for social work.

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The taskforce was set up a year ago, after the death of 17 month old Baby Peter, to tackle the low morale and status of social work, in order to improve recruitment and retention.

Hilton Dawson, chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers, said that the report had the potential to transform the profession. But he added: “The big question is how well we can implement it and how quickly it can be done.”