Longitudinal Study of Local Authority Child and Family Social Workers in England

About

The Department for Education awarded a contract to IFF Research for the delivery of a national longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers in England.

The study aimed to collect robust evidence on recruitment, retention, and progression by following a representative sample of social workers over five years.

The contractor conducted 25 face-to-face exploratory qualitative interviews within five case study local authorities.

The survey phase used a longitudinal design, recruiting new entrants and established social workers at Wave 1 (Autumn 2018) to retain at least 500-800 new entrants and 1000 established social workers by Wave 5 (Autumn 2022).

The methodology included an online approach followed by telephone for non-responders after four weeks, and annual qualitative telephone interviews with 20 leavers and 20 stayers.

The contract value was £539,346.