Social work post-qualifying standard:standards: knowledge and skills statements
TheProfessional professionalstandards standard for child and family social workers supporting vulnerable children and families.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Until 31 March 2027, use the ‘Knowledge and skills statement for child and family practitioners’.
From 1 April 2027, use the ‘Child and family social worker early career standards’.
From September 2027, the early career development programme based on the early career standards will replace the assessed and supported year in employment.
The knowledge and skills statements are the foundation offor a post-qualification specialist career pathway for child and family social workers.
They support child and family social work:
- education
- recruitment
- career development
- performance appraisal
TheyThey’re are for:
- frontline practitioners
(staff) - practice supervisors
- practice leaders
- employers
Practice supervisors are qualified social workers responsible for:
- supervising child and family frontline practitioners
- developing the skills of teams and individuals involved in child and family social work services
Practice leaders are qualified social workers responsible for:
- making sure the whole local system for child and family social work practice operates correctly
- overseeing child and family frontline practitioners and practice supervisors
For frontline practitioners and practice supervisors, thethese knowledge and skills statements are the post-qualifying improvement standardstandards 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.
From 1 April 2027, employers for adult child and family practitioners should use the ‘Child and family social workworker practiceearly supervisors.career standards.’.
The early career standards will form the basis of the early career development programme (ECDP), which will replace the assessment and support year in employment (ASYE) 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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Added a link to the 'Early career standards: professional standards for child and family social workers'. Introduced the early career development programme (ECDP), which will replace the assessment and support year in employment programme.
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Updated documents in line with the National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS).
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Updated documents and detail in line with consultation response.
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Added the knowledge and skills statement for approved child and family practitioners.
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First published.
Update history
2026-08-11 15:57
Converted this guidance from PDF to a web page. There are no changes to the guidance.
2026-02-18 12:00
Added a link to the ‘Early career standards: professional standards for child and family social workers’. Introduced the early career development programme (ECDP), which will replace the assessment and support year in employment programme.