Child and family social worker early career standards
Professional standards for child and family social workers supporting vulnerable children and families.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
TheUntil child31 andMarch family2027, socialuse workerthe early‘Knowledge careerand standardsskills willstatement applyfor from 1child Apriland 2027family practitioners’.
UntilFrom then,1 childApril and2027, family practitioners and their employers should continue to use thethe ‘Child post-qualifying standard: knowledge and skillsfamily statementsocial forworker childearly andcareer family practitioners.standards’.
The child and family social worker early career standards describe the professional outcomes that child and family social workers should demonstrate in their first 2 years in practice.
The standards cover:
- education
- recruitment
- career development
- performance appraisal
They’reThey are for:
- frontline practitioners
(staff) - employers
They apply to:
- local authorities
- employers
whothat have child protection duties in other organisations
For frontline practitioners, these standards are the post-qualifying improvement standardsstandard as set out under Section 42 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017,. Attaining this professional standard demonstrates that the holder has a particular expertise or specialisation.
The early career standards will form the basis of the early career development programme (ECDP),that which will replace the assessmentassessed and supportsupported year in employment (ASYE) (ASYE) from programme from September 2027.
Updates to this page
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Converted this guidance from PDF to a web page. There are no changes to the guidance.
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First published.
Update history
2026-08-11 15:56
Converted this guidance from PDF to a web page. There are no changes to the guidance.
2026-02-18 12:00
First published.