National Workload Action Group meeting summary - 16 September

The National Workload Action Group (NWAG) is developing resources for reducing social worker workload.

NWAG meetings bring together local authority representatives and key stakeholders in the social work sector to develop resources and provide suggestions to the Department for Education (DfE) about addressing unnecessary workload drivers.

In the NWAG meeting on 16 September, members explored the following:

Updates from the Department for Education

Veronica Berti from DfE highlighted that this was the second NWAG meeting since the general election. She confirmed that Janet Daby, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, is aware of NWAG’s work. The minister views improving working conditions for social workers as a priority. Therefore, there is an opportunity for NWAG to have significant national impact.

Artificial intelligence and case recording

Susannah Bowyer, Deputy Director of Research in Practice for children and families, presented the findings of a recent scoping study to understand how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in social work. She highlighted the perceived issue of ‘over-recording’ and suggested some ways AI could be used to address this. It was found that AI has the potential to:

• Reduce administrative burden on social workers.
• Allow social workers to make better use of information.

The group discussed ideas for guidance to ensure that AI is adopted safely and effectively. Both NWAG members and Review, Testing and Implementation Network (RTIN) members emphasised the importance of AI being carefully implemented with human oversight and ethical considerations.

Work/caseload management

Emma Smale, Innovation and Development Programme Manager for Research in Practice, outlined a recently commissioned evidence review on work/caseload management. The review aims to understand the approaches and tools being used across the sector.

It was found that both caseload management systems and workload management systems are poorly evaluated, and the outcomes are not well-evidenced. Therefore, it is necessary to look to practice to understand the effectiveness of these systems. 

Members suggested that there is variation across the country in terms of how these systems are used. To address the workload issue, further research is needed to explore which tools are being used and how they are applied.

What next?

Research in Practice will create a set of resources and present them in draft form to both NWAG and RTIN, taking steering advice on which resources to prioritise.

NWAG meetings are scheduled to be held every two months until March 2025.