Provision of a Higher Education Provider to deliver the Step Up to Social Work Programme for the East Midlands Regional Partnership

The Step up to Social Work programme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) with the intention of raising the standard of social workers who work in children's statutory services. The programme recruits high calibre candidates who have a 2:1 degree and have had experience of working in childcare. The programme is managed by regional partnerships and the East Midlands partnership currently consists of the following local authorities:

The East Midlands Regional Partnership is now seeking to contract with a Higher Education Provider to deliver and quality assure a Cohort 6 Step up to Social Work Programme in the East Midlands Region.

Students are assigned to each local authority in the regional partnership with the intention that, on qualifying, they will be appointed to work in that Local Authority. The Local Authorities commit to providing placements for the students they are supporting. Local Authorities have a vested interest in ensuring that students are trained in a way that meets the needs of the children's services.

The Step up to Social Work programme leads to a Post Graduate Diploma at MA level and the duration of the programme is to be approximately 14 months commencing in January 2020 and ending in March 2021. The programme must be validated by the HCPC by March 2019 and be prepared to meet the requirements of Social Work England when these come into force. The programme must enable and support students to meet the refreshed Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) (August 2018) and the Post-qualifying standard: knowledge and skills statement for child and family practitioners, May 2018. Students will register with the HEI.

The East Midlands Regional Partnership plan to recruit between 30 and 40 students to Cohort 6 although this number may vary.

The intention of the programme is to train children's social workers who will provide a high-quality service for the children and young people in the region.