Regulator Skills for Care recently carried out an assurance visit to review the council's Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme, a 12 month, employer led programme of support and assessment for newly qualified social workers designed to help them develop skills, knowledge and increase their professional confidence.
Skills for Care found that Wolverhampton has a strong, good quality ASYE programme through which newly qualified social workers 'are supported in becoming the best practitioners they can be'.
Councillor Jacqui Coogan, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: "Wolverhampton is a great place to be a social worker, and as a council we take their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment very seriously.
"Our supportive and structured ASYE programme typically works with around a dozen newly qualified social workers every year, helping the council with both recruitment and retention to this vital role.
"It includes training and reflective sessions as well as a protected workload which helps them to consolidate their learning and strengthen their professional confidence.
"The Assessed and Supported Year in Employment is a great way for newly qualified social workers to hone their skills as they embark on their careers with us - and it is pleasing to see that Skills for Care rates it very highly."
Skills for Care carries our regular assurance visits to assess the quality of local ASYE programmes it funds and visited Wolverhampton in September.
In its report, it also found that senior managers are supportive of, and committed to, the ASYE programme, that wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusion is prioritised, and that advanced practitioners are 'extremely valuable in supporting newly qualified social workers'. Good oversight and governance is in place to ensure quality and continued improvement and newly qualified social workers were positive about the training available to them, and the opportunities provided for reflection and support.
Councillor Coogan added: "Our social workers do an incredible job and it's so important that they are given the support they need to be the best they can possibly be through programmes such as this."
For more information about social work jobs available visit City of Wolverhampton Council.
