Chief Social Worker for Children and Families and Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel member
It continues to be a really exciting time to work in children’s social care (CSC). The last twelve months have seen us make huge strides in delivering the vision set out in the Keeping children safe, helping families thrive paper. We’ve secured a significant amount of new investment to reform children’s social care; our bill is moving through parliament, and subject to Royal Assent, will enshrine reforms in legislation.
Revised CSC National Framework and Working Together to Safeguard Children
This spring, the government will publish a revised CSC National Framework and a targeted update of Working Together to Safeguard Children. These two documents are the cornerstone of the work we do every day with children and families, so it was important to bring them closer to our current vision for practice.
The revised CSC National Framework continues to encourage everyone involved in children’s social care to hold high aspirations for children, and to focus on improving outcomes for children, young people, and families. We’ve brought together all the expectations on listening to the voices of children, young people, and families to reflect the importance of practice being child-centred, and we’ve also updated the purpose of children’s social care to reflect the reforms we are making to shift the system towards earlier intervention, focusing on the right support at the right time. If you’d like to learn more about the revised CSC National Framework, do sign up to the webinars which the Department for Education will host on Monday 20 April and Thursday 30 April. Aimed at senior leaders and practice supervisors – but open to all practitioners – the sessions will provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding of the updates and ask questions.
The 2026 update to Working Together to Safeguard Children will aim to strengthen how we protect all children. This includes learning from serious safeguarding cases, tackling discrimination in safeguarding practices, improving responses to child sexual abuse and domestic abuse, and supporting children who are looked after.
Both documents will be published soon. Please do take the time to read them and reflect on how you can continue to use them to shape practice in your local authority.
Ofsted reforms to children's services inspection
Soon, we will also see changes from Ofsted on how they inspect local authority children’s services in recognition that inspection must keep pace with plans for reform. Ofsted is taking a two-phase approach to reforming the ILACS framework, with initial changes in 2026 to ensure inspection is aligned with the National Framework, the Families First Partnership guide, and Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, alongside removing the single overall effectiveness judgement. This change will be key in bringing the values of the sector together, ensuring we are all working towards the same goals and setting national direction for practice.
New post-qualification and early career standards for social workers
We are also making important changes to the standards we should all be working towards a profession. Last month, the government published its response to the consultation on post-qualification standards, and alongside it, the new early career standards for child and family social works. These are not just document, they represent a shared vision for the future of social work.
These changes are about building a system that gives every social worker the confidence, skills, and support to do what matters most - helping children grow up safe, loved, and thriving. This should be at the heart of everything we do. I urge you to read the response and the new standards before they come into place next year. Understand what they mean for your organisation and for the future of early career development.
Building a national professional development offer for the social work workforce
These standards form part of ongoing work the department is doing to support and develop our workforce. They will be the foundation of a wider career development system, known as the social worker national professional development offer. This includes a new training programme and standards for Lead Child Protection Practitioners, and a new leadership development offer.
There’s a lot of important work happening at a local and national level, and there is a lot of momentum for us to seize. I am excited to keep working with you, and thank you as always for the work you do every day to support children and families.
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