Lancashire social care professionals celebrate Social Work Week this March

The themes of this year's Social Work Week are:

Learn: the breadth of social work – lived, learned and professional experiences

Connect: social work identity and sharing best practice

Influence: looking back at the past three years and looking forward to what's next for social work in England

On Tuesday 21 March, World Social Work Day, a hybrid event for all social care professionals in the county will take place featuring guest speakers delivering a mixture of presentations and interactive workshops based on the theme of 'Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action'.

Professionals in Adult's Social Care are set to announce the winner of the annual Randip Bhogal Safeguarding Award, named after a beloved late colleague. The award recognises outstanding contributions to safeguarding, where the interventions of a staff member means people in Lancashire have been kept safe from harm or abuse.

The Adult's Social Care service recently celebrated their first cohort of Social Work Apprentices, all of which were guaranteed a permanent position upon graduation and have since moved into these posts. This is a yearly commitment and the second cohort are due to follow the same process this summer.

Ian Crabtree, Director of Adult Community Social Care at Lancashire County Council, said: "Our social care staff make an incredible difference to the lives of adults across Lancashire. While we celebrate our colleagues all year round, this week gives them the chance to reflect on their successes, hear from the people they support and look at how we might develop our services for the future.

"I hope all of our social care colleagues have a happy and productive Social Work Week and are proud of the experience, skills and care they bring to the profession."

Lancashire's Children's Social Care teams will be marking the week with some special events.

Lancashire's Children's Social Work Academy will be holding a Fayre on Monday 20 March, an interactive networking event to allow newly qualified social workers to get to know Lancashire's various services and functions. There will be a variety of seminars on the day featuring guest speakers who will share their expertise and for some, their lived experiences of social care.

A special event for Lancashire's newly qualified children's social workers will take place on 27 March to celebrate them successfully completing their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) as Social Workers. The event aims to show how much Lancashire values its ASYEs and their commitment to the role, as well as celebrating the successes of their first year in practice.

Louise Anderson, Director of Children's Social Care at Lancashire County Council, said: "Social Work Week is a great opportunity for our social work teams to come together, reflect and share best practice in their profession. We would love to hear from colleagues, young people and partners so that we can help make changes and improvements for the future.

"In Children's Services, we are also celebrating our recent Ofsted rating of 'good' and the case study of Lancashire's Family Safeguarding model that was published in the Department for Education's response to the national Care Review; 'Stable Homes Built on Love'."

Professionals working in social care and adults, children and young people who have a social worker will be given the opportunity to share their experiences in order to improve practice and shape the future of social care in Lancashire.