Coming Back to Social Work: A Pilot National Programme for Social Workers Returning to Practice.

There is long-standing concern in England about the high turnover of social workers and loss of professional expertise and experience. One remedial initiative is to offer opportunities for those who have taken time out of professional practice to return to social work. This article sets social work return to practice initiatives in the context of returning to other professions. This article reports on the distinctive features and benefits of a Return to Social Work initiative that was funded by the Department of Health, Department for Education, the Local Government Association and Jobs Go Public. The programme was launched as a pilot in September 2016 with 20 participants. The article describes the model adopted by the pilot national programme and reports reflections upon it from the team that delivered the programme and comments made by participants that were collected at the end of the programme. It concludes that the cost-effectiveness of such programmes can only be established if data are collected on the longer-term outcomes of such investment and by establishing agreement on what should be the metrics for assessing any such programme as a success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]