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Consultation Outcome Published 18 Feb 2026 Department for Education ↗ View on GOV.UK

Children’s social work post-qualifying standards and induction

This consultation is for all those who receive and provide children’s social care services in England, and those who have an interest in it.

Opened 20 Mar 2025
Closed 28 May 2025
▤ Verbatim text from source document

We are consulting on the post-qualifying standards and induction for child and family social workers.

We are seeking views on replacing the current post-qualifying standards at practitioner level with new ones that are clearer about the professional outcomes expected of new social workers, to include descriptors of what they should understand and be able to do by the end of their second year in the role.

We are also seeking views on how we can support employers of social workers to provide a new 2-year induction for their new social workers based on these post-qualifying standards.