The Review of Professional Development for the Children’s Homes Workforce is exploring how the sector can better support and recognise residential care professionals. They undertake highly skilled and emotionally demanding work, and play a vital role in the lives of children who have experienced trauma, loss and instability.
A key aim of the review is for qualifications and professional development to reflect the realities of working in a children’s home, and equip practitioners with the expertise needed to build meaningful, lasting relationships with children.
The review is considering the purpose of residential care, the knowledge and skills required by staff and managers, the effectiveness of current qualifications and apprenticeships, and the quality and consistency of continuing professional development, career pathways, leadership, and practice models.
A core principle of this work has been to gather evidence from a wide range of perspectives. This involves listening to people and organisations with direct experience of the system, including children and their families, residential care workers, registered managers, providers, academics, training organisations, local authorities, and sector bodies.
The review team has collected evidence in a variety of ways, including:
- A series of roundtables facilitated by experts in the field of professional development in the children’s homes workforce, focusing on the review workstreams: qualifications, continued professional development (CPD), career pathways, practice models, and leadership
- Discussions with care-experienced young people who have experience of living in children’s homes, as well as their families and wider professional networks
- A sector-wide workforce survey, which closes on Friday 7th August
- A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) – an externally commissioned independent review involving research into the purpose of residential care, with draft findings to be used by the Children’s Homes Workforce review team prior to full publication
- Meeting directly with professionals including Registered Managers and Responsible Individuals
- Engagement with sector bodies including Ofsted and the Children’s Commissioner’s Office
- Discussions with other teams across government that are working on related policy, including Staying Close and the special educational needs (SEN) review teams
- Synthesising wider academic literature and speaking to academics in the field
- Drawing upon existing statutory data and wider data collection, such as the Children’s Homes Workforce Census
- Speaking with awarding organisations and collating information about existing qualifications and pathways
- Meeting with Directors of Children’s Services, including through the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) Health, Care & Commissioning Policy Network
- Contributions gathered through events and conferences, including the Commissioners’ Conference and sector forums
Next steps
The outcomes of the review are yet to be determined. Over the coming weeks, the review team will draw together the evidence collected so far and test emerging findings with stakeholders. This process ensures that any final recommendations are practical, evidence-informed, and grounded in the realities and practice of children’s residential care. We plan to provide a further update on our progress in September.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed their time, expertise and lived experience to the review so far.
For further information on the review’s purpose and objectives, please see this co-authored article: Our goal is to be ambitious’ – Children’s Homes Workforce Review team outline plans.