King's College London

Background

Social workers support people with complex and/or changing needs to receive care appropriate to their needs. In 2023/24, in England, there were about 21,000 social workers employed in adult social care, mainly in local authorities, with another 4,000 working in the NHS.

There are three ways to become a social worker:

• a three-year university degree (most popular)
• a two-year course after another degree
• an apprenticeship involving work and study.

All students must complete work placements.

The government gives two types of financial help. The Social Work Bursary (SWB) helps students with study and living costs. The Education Support Grant (ESG) gives money to universities and placement providers for practice placements Both schemes intend to ensure an appropriate number of social workers for future demand.

Little is known about how effectively these schemes operate: that is why the government plans to review and improve them.

Aims and objectives

The study intends to find out how well the schemes help people start and finish social work courses and join the workforce. It will research what helps, what blocks progress, and suggest improvements.

Methods

The research period is April 2026 to April 2027.

The team will use different methods to understand how the SWB and ESG work:

1. literature review
2. interviews with experts
3. review of available data for patterns in social work training
4. case study in four areas in England to talk to students, universities, and employers.

Funder

NIHR Policy Research Programme NIHR206121(15)

Policy relevance and dissemination

The DHSC will hold a consultation in the autumn about how to make the funding schemes work better: this will be informed with preliminary research results after six months.

A full report will be published at the end of the project and the findings will be shared online and at events.