Policy paper

Government response to the national workload action group report

Published 25 September 2025

Applies to England

In January 2023, the national workload action group (NWAG) was established to:

• find the main causes of unnecessary social work workload
• develop practical, evidence-based solutions

The insights and experiences of frontline social workers and colleagues from across the sector shaped the group’s findings.

The report provides a clear analysis of the complex challenges surrounding social work workload. It offers a comprehensive set of recommendations to inform the Department for Education’s (DfE) ongoing reforms in children’s social care, including reforms delivered through the Families First Partnership programme.

The report and associated material provide helpful information for all social work leaders and managers, as many of the ways to ease unnecessary workload sit at local level.

In addition to the report, DfE has worked with Research in Practice to use the initial findings from NWAG to develop resources to support practitioners. These resources are available on the Support for Social Workers platform and include:

• a self-assessment tool comprising:

  • 9 essential conditions for successful hybrid working
  • a development plan for hybrid working structures
• a resource for practitioners in social work and social care at every level to help improve understanding of effective supervision of digital practice
• examples of how different local authorities have used workload models to reduce unnecessary workload and make their admin more efficient
• a supervision tool for assessing reflexivity (STAR) for organisations to use alongside their existing supervision policy
• 4 case studies detailing how different local authorities apply caseload and workload management models to their caseloads

These resources aim to help address issues around workload and retention. We recognise that this requires commitment and collaboration from all key stakeholders so that future solutions reflect the diverse needs of local workforces, children and families. This is an opportunity to improve the partnership with the sector and local authorities. It recognises the systematic issues that impact workload and requires a sustained effort from us all.

Alongside the report, DfE is also publishing the supporting material that informed its development. These reports explore the 5 prioritised strands, providing a comprehensive breakdown of the activity taken for each strand. This includes:

• evidence scoping and research
• testing thinking with members of the group
• formulating insights and recommendations

DfE is taking measures as a result of the group’s work, prioritising actions that align with and strengthen the existing programme of reform in children’s social care.

Supervision

DfE supports the report’s conclusion that high-quality supervision is essential in helping social workers manage their workload effectively. DfE recognises that supervision should be less about process and more focused on supporting the needs of front-line practice.

DfE is committed to helping the sector enhance the quality and impact of supervision. It is exploring a partnership with the North West regional improvement pilot plan to test the effectiveness of the supervision tool for assessing reflexivity (STAR). This pilot will look at the tool’s impact on front-line supervision practice and gather evidence on how it supports reflective, meaningful supervision.

The insights and recommendations from the NWAG will directly inform the development of support for practice supervisors. This will be introduced alongside a new programme for social workers in the first 2 years of their career.

DfE will also consider how to support continued improvements in leadership and supervision. Evidence suggests good leadership and supervision contribute to:

• continued improvements in practice quality
• a more experienced and capable workforce
• increased workforce retention with lower vacancy and turnover rates  

Following the outcome of the Spending Review, DfE will consider additional action to support improvements in the quality of supervision and leadership, including looking at the benefit of national standards and the requirements for any training programmes.

DfE agrees with the group’s assessments that national standards alone will not lead to improvements and that any changes would require a broad and inclusive consultation.

Administrative support and use of AI in case recording

DfE recognises the significant potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support and enhance the delivery of children’s social care. In particular, AI offers opportunities to reduce administrative burdens on social workers, improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making, and ultimately contribute to better outcomes for children and families.

DfE will help to facilitate and empower local authorities and the social work workforce to make the most of AI. DfE is committed to ensuring that the development and deployment of AI in this context is ethical, evidence-informed and aligned with the needs of the workforce and the children they serve.

DfE has already worked with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to publish guidance for local authorities on how to develop and use data analytics tools in children’s social care. This includes an ethics triage self-assessment tool, and an ethics workbook, to support responsible innovation and safeguard public trust.

DfE will continue to work collaboratively across government, particularly with DSIT to ensure that our digital and workforce strategies are aligned with the UK’s National AI Strategy. This includes focusing on the long-term needs of the AI ecosystem to support children’s social care, enabling the transition to an AI-enabled public sector that delivers benefits across all regions, and ensuring that governance frameworks promote innovation while safeguarding the rights and wellbeing of children and families.

To support this aim and build on NWAG’s AI recommendations relating to practical application, ethics and guidance, DfE is establishing a children’s social care data and digital centre of excellence. The centre will engage with local authorities to gather robust, evidence-based insights into the use of AI in children’s social care and design support to help them use the technology effectively.

The effective and ethical use of AI is underpinned by the availability of high-quality, interoperable data and the adoption of common standards. DfE’s data standards programme for children’s social care is designed to:

• improve the consistency, quality and accessibility of data across children social care systems
• facilitate the interoperability of systems, including the potential for integration of AI tools with existing digital infrastructure

Developments in digital practice, the use of AI and their impact on social work practice are significant features of the work of our stakeholders. For example, after holding a leadership summit on AI in social work practice, Social Work England (SWE) commissioned exploratory research from Research in Practice and a literature review from The Open University, to better understand the AI challenges and opportunities in social work. Following the delivery of this research, SWE will host a series of national in-person events and a sector-wide event focused on AI in social work early next year. These will allow for a national conversation on current issues to help shape the future of social work and regulation.

Digital practice and hybrid working

DfE agrees that advancements in digital practices and hybrid working have significantly influenced social work. These changes must be reflected in the resources provided to social workers. DfE will continue to promote this in supporting material and in material developed by our partners.

DfE will also collaborate with the Local Government Association (LGA) and the employer standards working group to review the employer standards for social work, ensuring that they remain relevant and responsive to the evolving landscape of social work.

This includes addressing emerging practice challenges such as:

• integrating anti-discriminatory practice across all levels of the workforce
• adapting to hybrid working models
• responding to the growing role of digital tools and technology in social work practice

The employer standards, which are included in the children social care national framework, help employers develop effective workforce strategies. The standards outline the responsibilities of employers to provide social workers with:

• a positive working environment
• manageable workloads
• access to supervision
• opportunities for continuing professional development

Children social care reforms and social work workload

As DfE’s programme of reforms in children’s social care embeds, we expect to see changes in social workers’ workloads and caseloads. This, combined with advice from NWAG, will inform future policy development and thinking on social work workload.  

DfE is in the process of planning evaluations of:

• the Families First Partnership programme
• the preceding Pathfinder programme, where reforms were co-designed and implemented across 10 local authorities

As part of this work, we are assessing how the reforms are affecting staff workload, including participating staff’s perceptions of the impact of the reforms on their workload.

DfE recognises the importance of providing data to inform work planning and help leaders anticipate workflows. To help identify workload issues, DfE is planning to collect employment data on local authority employed family help practitioners.

In addition to drawing on insights from the pathfinder programme, DfE will engage extensively with social workers from a wide range of backgrounds across the country to inform future strategic priorities for the workforce.

DfE will prioritise areas that complement our overarching aims of ensuring workforce sufficiency, stability and quality of practice. DfE recognises there are already examples of excellent work in these areas. We aim to work with the sector to highlight and celebrate good practice through sector communications where appropriate.

Workload is an urgent challenge that needs ongoing attention. DfE will work with the sector, and relevant representative bodies, to explore how to better support social work leaders in managing caseloads effectively.