Consultation outcome

Funding placements for social work students

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Applies to England

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Detail of outcome

We are implementing a temporary fee structure for social work practice placements in the 2014 academic year. Permanent arrangements will come into force in the 2015 academic year.

The temporary arrangements are:

  • a single daily placement fee of £20 per day
  • a daily fee for Skills Development Days of £10 per day
  • a Higher Education Institution (HEI) administration fee of £2 per placement day
  • a payment of £7,400 per HEI for involving service users and carers in the development and delivery of social work qualifying courses

The government will work with the social work sector on introducing new arrangements that are consistent with reviews of social work education.


Original consultation

Summary

Consultation on funding placements for social work students to ensure money is spent efficiently and gives students great opportunities.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

The consultation is asking for people’s views on how the Education Support Grant (ESG) could be set up to make sure it stays within its £28 million budget. The grant has been running more and more over budget year on year and the current annual overspend is about £3 million.

It also looks at how the quality of placements can be improved as a result of these proposals. This includes looking at giving higher education institutes more flexibility over how this grant is spent, so they can reward the providers that offer high quality placements or work with others to improve standards. This will ensure every social work student has access to high quality practical experience before they begin their career.

The Department of Health has worked with a range of stakeholders in developing these options.

Documents

Published 13 September 2013
Last updated 15 May 2014 + show all updates
  1. Government response published.

  2. First published.