The Promise have published their Change Programme One detailing what is happening now, what is happening next and what needs to happen to deliver Plan 21 - 24 and ultimately #KeepThePromise. This has huge implications for care leavers and the workforce who support them. Here we pull out the key elements relating to the workforce in the throughcare and aftercare sectors.

Workforce Values 

What is Required By Plan 21 - 24?

There will be a national values-based recruitment and workforce development framework in place and adhered to by all organisations and professions involved in supporting 

What is Happening Now?

• There is a focus on the critical need to uphold the UNCRC and #KeepThePromise through a skilled, motivated, trauma-informed and resilient workforce which is key to developing trust and building supportive relationships with children and families.
  
• There was no reduction in the commitment to a compassionate decision making culture for children and families, but many reported that the impact of the pandemic was profound in being able to create and sustain a culture that can confidently manage a reflective approach to risk.
• The importance of having shared values and understanding across disciplines was acknowledged, with many identifying values-based recruitment as a current focus. However, it was also recognised that this is not always straightforward.
• Children’s Services Planning Partnerships are critical places to drive leadership and partnership approaches across practitioners, but there is still a need for improvement in shared understanding across different agencies and organisations.
• Some organisations stated that they would value a refresh of the Common Core framework that had previously received good engagement across professional bodies. 

What's Happening Next?

• The Scottish Government has committed to workforce planning around services and support for Children, Young People and Families that will follow a holistic approach to ensure continuity from historic and current policies to future national policy initiatives in health, social services and the delivery of national outcomes delivered by implementation of GIRFEC, UNCRC and The Promise.
• SSSC will review all codes of practice to provide a framework to uphold a rights and relationships-based approach.
• OCSWA will ensure all development work will include commitment to continued professional development to maintain competence in practice as legislation, policy and guidance changes. The promotion of anti-discriminatory practice, dignity and respect, and the recognition of unconscious biases will also continue.

What Needs to Happen?

Work is underway but does not yet appear sufficient.

The Promise Partnership programme has funded increased workforce capacity in many Children’s Services Planning Partnerships. The Promise Scotland will build on that network of support and capability, linking with work happening with SSSC and Scottish Government.

Workforce: Trauma Informed 

What is required by Plan 21 - 24?

• Organisations that have responsibilities towards care experienced young people will be able to demonstrate that they are embedding trauma informed practice across their work and within their workforce.

What's Happening Now?

• Trauma informed practice is discussed in every setting of care and across agencies and organisations with responsibility toward children and families, with many organisations acknowledging that they are uncertain about how to embed it as an approach.
• This is particularly the case where there are stresses in supporting and maintaining a stable children’s workforce.
• The National Trauma Training Programme (NTTP) was set up to develop a set of resources to promote and implement trauma informed practice in Scotland. Its focus will be upon the key drivers for sustainable change, including trauma informed leadership, staff and organisational wellbeing, shared power, workforce knowledge and skills and trauma informed organisations.
• Several Local Authorities had comprehensive programmes underway to support trauma informed understanding across the workforce.

What's Happening Next?

The National Trauma Training Programme will:

• Develop a programme of training for leaders in the prioritised services through the Scottish Trauma Informed Leaders Training element of the NTTP.

The Scottish Government has committed to the following timeline:

• June 2021: National Trauma Training for social workers is rolled out.
• June 2021: Scope out what further national training can be developed to support the workforce working with care experienced children.
• September 2021: Higher Education Providers will ensure social work qualifying programmes develop a future workforce that can deliver on the objectives of The Promise.
• September 2021: Good social work practice in relation to trauma will be identified and rolled out nationally.
• October 2021: Work with stakeholders such as SSSC and Social Work Scotland (SWS) to ensure that the workforce is supported with the right skills and development to support care experienced.

What needs to happen?

Work is underway.

The Promise Scotland will monitor progress, and scope whether there is work that could be developed alongside to consider the needs of care experienced children and families.

Workforce: Ongoing relationships 

What is required by Plan 21 - 24? 

No blanket policies or guidance that prevent the maintenance of relationships between young people and those who care for them. Settings of care will be able to facilitate the protection of relationships that are important to children and young people.

What's Happening Now?

• The Promise has allowed many organisations to undertake a new approach to support relationships between young people and those who care.
• There was widespread commitment for the upholding and protecting of relationships, with the need to ensure those who cared had time, space and support to continue to care.
• There is welcome action but a need to develop a strategy with measures that can demonstrate shift in practice.

What's Happening Next?

• The SSSC will review its codes of practice by 2023 taking a rights and relationships upholding perspective on what needs to change.
• The SSSC will work with Promise Scotland to drive new ways of communicating to the workforce and employers the importance of relationships-based practice and values.
• The Care Inspectorate have given relationships greater prominence in the new quality improvement frameworks that underpin inspections.

What Needs to Happen?

Work is underway.

The Promise Scotland will work with SSSC to scope the development of relationships-based practice support awareness raising with key markers of success that can demonstrate a shift in ways of working.

Workforce: Support 

What is required by Plan 21 - 24?

A new framework of support to ensure people involved in the care of care experienced children and young people feel valued, encouraged and have supportive relationships for reflection with high quality supervision and environmental conditions.

What's Happening Now?

There's a clear acknowledgement that the ‘care system’ is experienced through the people that work, volunteer and care, in and around it.

Local Authorities and Children’s Services Planning Partnerships consistently stated that the workforce is their biggest asset, but also had significant concerns about retention, recruitment and culture changes. Retention and promotion were highlighted as being particularly challenging in more remote rural areas. Improved succession planning to support emerging leaders was also noted.

The impacts of the pandemic on working conditions many staff had faced was also highlighted, reinforcing the importance of ensuring there is support to enable those staff to recover. 

Some Local Authorities are in the process of recruiting to posts specifically intended to support the wider workforce to coordinate activity to #KeepThePromise.

Police Scotland have developed an internal lived experience group of officers and police staff who are care experienced. This group will provide an all-inclusive view of policing services delivery for care experienced particularly looking to reduce stigma.

What's Happening Next?

• The Scottish Government has committed to leading workforce planning around services and support for children, young people and families that will work to support those who care.
• The SSSC is reviewing all its codes of practice by 2023 that should have at its core the need to facilitate support for the workforce as well as framing the regulatory environment for practitioners.

What Needs to Happen?

There is work underway, but does not yet appear sufficient.

The Promise Scotland will monitor the work around the development of a workforce support framework, offering support and guidance as required.

Download full Change Programme One.