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‘Grow your own’ approach sees extraordinary surge in social work applications

Thursday, 11 June 2026 13:54

By Chris Collman

Over 200 people have applied for just three funded social work apprenticeship places at Devon County Council, in a striking show of demand at a time when many councils across the country are struggling to recruit and keep social care staff.

At a Cabinet meeting this week (Wednesday 10 June), councillors described the level of interest as “extraordinary”, and a clear sign that more people want to build careers in children’s social care in Devon. 

Across the country, long-standing workforce shortages continue to affect social services, particularly for children, and many areas find it difficult to maintain stable teams and keep experienced staff. This can lead to high staff turnover, meaning families can see several different social workers over time, making consistent support harder to deliver. 

Against this national picture, Devon County Council is seeing a different trend. It follows heavy investment in recent years to stabilise and strengthen their social care team, with improvements in leadership, induction, supervision and wellbeing.  

A new People Strategy and tailored recruitment and retention plan to support people entering the profession and to encourage them to stay and develop their careers has sharply reduced reliance on temporary staff and created a sustainable pipeline of permanent social workers. 

Newly qualified social workers also benefit from an extended two-year support package through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme, offering longer and more structured support than many other areas.  

The approach has contributed to retention rates close to 100 per cent locally, with almost all the 50 newly qualified social workers supported through the training programme over the last two years staying in their jobs. 

The Council now wants to build on that success, and the subsequent surge in demand for places on the programme, with a long-term plan to “grow our own” stronger, stable local workforce by creating more ways to become a social worker and encourage people from a broader range of backgrounds to enter the profession. 

It plans to increase the number of newly qualified social workers joining the training programme to up to 40 each year, alongside introducing new postgraduate training opportunities for existing staff to train as social workers while continuing in their current roles. 

The apprenticeship route will expand from three places to seven to allow more young people to train as social workers while earning a salary, making the profession more accessible, particularly for those who may not be able to follow traditional university pathways or who are looking to change career. 

The Council also expects the changes to reduce its reliance on agency staff, who often only work in services for a short time. Having more permanent staff should help improve stability and continuity for families and create stronger teams where staff can support each other. It will also save money, which can be reinvested into training, allowing the Council to train more social workers in the future. 

Do it for Devon. Do it for helping the children and young people in our care to flourish and thrive in life. Find out about careers in Children’s Social Care – Children’s Social Care – Working for Devon | Devon County Council 

 

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