Introduced initially as a pilot in January 2025, the Council’s Integrated Front Door team tracks contacts and referrals using digital whiteboards that share live data.

The new technology means an end to time-consuming manual recording, freeing up more hours for practitioners to focus on their work and greater opportunities for the service to invest in the workforce.

In this episode, Laura Snell, service lead for North East Lincolnshire’s Integrated Front Door in children’s services. and Sam, deputy service director within the Integrated Front Door and Safeguarding , talk about how, almost a year on, – the IFD pilot project became a reality and a valuable resource. 

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

North Lincolnshire Council's children and families service is committed to working collaboratively with families through its One Family Approach practice model - an approach that uses co-production to shape support for families and practitioners.

In the final segment of this three-part mini-series in collaboration with North Lincolnshire Council, practitioners Steve and Shabnam explore the Council's community social work approach and how it embeds into the statutory service.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

In the first in a three-part series from North East Lincolnshire Council,  social workers from children's services explore some of the changes that contributed to a significant improvement in the authority's Ofsted rating.

Earlier this year, the council, previously graded inadequate, was rated good overall and outstanding for leadership by inspectors, who found its children's services were "largely unrecognisable" from where they were in 2021.

Recently, North East Lincolnshire Council launched a direct work toolkit to help children make sense of living with in conflict in their families.

In this episode, director of children's services Ann-Marie Matson and Hayley Smith, advanced social worker in the children's assessment and safeguarding service, reflect on the impact the toolkit and other practice changes have had on children and families.

Access the transcript here.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

Ensuring that practitioners have access to wellbeing support, flexible working arrangements and the chance to network with peers are all areas that North Lincolnshire Council is committed to.

In this the second instalment of our three-part miniseries with North Lincolnshire's children and families service, we speak to Heidi Blakey, senior workforce, engagement and development officer in children’s and families at North Lincolnshire Council, and Marco Torres, apprentice social worker in the courts and permanence team.

The pair talk about how the council prioritises wellbeing and helps its workforce to achieve a positive work/life balance.

Find out more about a career at North Lincolnshire Council here.

Access the transcript here.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county.

In this podcast episode Hampshire Hive foster carers Andrea, and Johnny and Hampshire Hive manager Amy discuss the transferable skills that foster carers can bring from previous professions into supporting children and young people.

Johnny used to do youth work, while Andrea used to be a mental health nurse. They both talk about being able to draw from their life experiences as young people, particularly Johnny who was care experienced. 

This podcast is the third and final episode in a three-part series called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.


Fostering in Hampshire
Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.


If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack.  You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer.

Please find the transcript here.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

Improving services for children and young people in a large rural county is no easy feat. In the summer of 2025, Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) children's services received a 'good' from Ofsted in three areas and 'outstanding' in two areas. Read the report here.

With a strong relational approach senior leaders have led the children social care workforce with strong and empathetic leadership. Frontline social workers are using systemic practice to support children and families.

In this episode you will hear from Paul Shallcross, service director of children and families and Beccy Pullinger, a social worker in one of the children and family first teams.

Most importantly you will hear from two ambassadors who are care-experienced and employed by GCC. The ambassadors have a number of roles within children's services to help improve polices, procedures and the support offered to young people in the county.

Danteiye (19) and Shane (20) explain how their roles have helped in improving services for children and families in Gloucestershire. The ambassadors also mentor senior leaders so that they can tell them directly how to improve things across the service, and make sure they are listened to.

This episode is in collaboration with GCC children's services.
Read the transcript here.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

This episode is part two of Oxfordshire County Council’s children’s service’s podcast talking about the benefits of having an in-house clinical team.

Clinical pyschologist Dr Emmanuella Vernon is back, talking with Anthony Sayles and Beccy Hawes who are both part of children and families first teams within Oxfordshire.

Anthony and Beccy talk about how they lean on the clinical team for advice on different cases. They explain how having that help and expertise in-house greatly benefits them as practitioners.

You can listen to the first part of this podcast with Dr Emmanuella Vernon and a parent who explains how practitioners at Oxfordshire County Council children’s services have helped her move from crisis-point to the point of stability and safety.

If you are interested in a career with Oxfordshire County Council take a look at its Employer Profile and check out any current vacancies.

Produced by Sharmeen Ziauddin

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

In this special two-part podcast you can listen to ‘Carrie’ (not her real name) explain how practitioners at Oxfordshire County Council children’s services have helped her move from crisis-point to the point of stability and safety.

Carrie experienced physical abuse from her 10-year-old son. As a result she was invited to take part in a special ‘Non Violent Resistance’ course aimed at parents who had similar experiences.

The ‘Non Violent Resistance’ group is led by the clinical team at Oxfordshire County Council which is made up of therpautic practioners such as clinical psycologists and family practitioners.

Dr Emmanuella Vernon, a highly specialist clinical psychologist, helps run the course and explains some of the reasoning behind the group and some of the techniques used.

In part two of this episode you will hear from social workers from Oxfordshire County Council's children's services talking about the benefits of working side by side with a clinical team within social work practice. This episode drops on 17 October.

Are you interested in a career with Oxfordshire County Council? If so take a look at its Employer Profile and check out any current vacancies.

Produced by Sharmeen Ziauddin

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

In this episode Sharmeen Ziauddin, senior commercial editor, speaks to Nikki Murphy and Lynn Roberts all the way in the Falkland Islands - that's 8,000 miles away. As a British Overseas Territory (BOT), the Falklands' social services is considerably different to local authorities in the UK.

Nikki being the head of social services explains the kind of issues that are prevalent in the Falklands and Lynn (team manager), who grew up there, tells us what it is like living and working in a BOT.

For those who don't know much about BOTs this is an eye-opener and an opportunity to learn how social work is carried out in small and remote communities.

This new three-part series, is created in collaboration with North Lincolnshire’s Children and Families Service and explores career progression, well-being and social work practice. 

In its most recent 2022 Ofsted inspection, North Lincolnshire Council's Children and Families was rated outstanding in all areas by Ofsted, with inspectors citing an “exemplary” commitment to children as one of its strengths. 

The council’s grow your own approach contributes positively to the service’s succession planning and a focus on supporting social workers in their preferred continuous professional development pathway has resulted in highly motivated, enthusiastic and loyal workforce, the report says.

In this episode on career progression, you’ll hear from two practitioners at different stages in their career. Rachel Smith, who started her career at North Lincolnshire over 20 years ago and is now director of children’s services, and Louise Stretten, who has worked across a number of teams including disability and child protection in her 13 years at the council and is now lead officer in Family Help. They talk about how they have been supported to grow in their careers.

Please find the transcript here.

Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county.

In this podcast episode Hampshire Hive foster carers Andrea and Johnny, explore some of the myths often associated with choosing fostering as a career.


Andrea highlights the flexibility fostering offers and talks about how she initially combined her career as a mental health nurse with fostering before deciding to commit full time to the role.


Johnny, one of the first male foster carers in Hampshire County Council’s fostering service, explodes the myth that only women can be foster carers. He shares his experience of being the main foster carer in his household and why it was important to establish a support group for male foster carers.


This podcast is the second episode in a three-part series called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.


Fostering in Hampshire
Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.


If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack.  You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer.

Please find the transcript here.

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

In the latest episode of The Social Work Community Podcast, we speak to two social workers with experience of working in both Ghana and the UK As part of the ‘Social work around the world’ series, this episode features two social workers who have practised in Ghana and England.

Although social work practice in Ghana mirrors much of what is taught in the UK, a lack of government funding and an emphasis on cultural values that promote community mean that social work in practice is quite different in both countries.

It is commonplace for family members to informally adopt children than them going into care and similarly, elderly family members are retained within the family network rather than being house in residential homes. 

Jemimah, who qualified in social work in Ghana over 20 years ago, and Emmanuel, who qualified in Ghana in 2021, share their unique experiences of supporting children and adults in both countries. 

In the discussion, Jemimah refers to an organisation called FIDA Ghana, which stands for The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana).  https://www.fida-ghana.org/know-fida/

About The Social Work Community Podcast The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives. Senior commercial editors Kirsty Ayakwah and fellow host Sharmeen Ziauddin, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.

It was nominated in the podcast category at the 2024 BASW Social Work Journalism Awards following its first season, which ran from October 2023 to April 2024. It can be found on all major podcasting platforms including:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Spreaker

Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published. You can also listen to the episode here:

Read the transcript.
To whet your appetite for season three, check out our podcast page to listen to previous episodes from seasons one and two.

This is a special episode of our live webinar which was recorded in June 2025.
Guests include Curtis Powell, podcaster and deputy team leader and two newly qualified social workers, Kai Tutton (adults) and Lashonte Royal (childrens) and was chaired by Sharmeen Ziauddin, an editor at Community Care.

They talk about their respective jobs on the ASYE programme, how they prepared for their roles and how they overcame challenges. How helpful were their universities in preparing them for life as a social worker? How do they manage their caseload as well as working on the ASYE portfolio? What is the best way to learn how to write assessments?

Listen to the answers of this and many more questions which were sent in by the audience.

Essential listening for all social work students and newly qualified social workers.

Watch it on The Social Work Community

Welcome to a new three-part series, in collaboration with Hampshire County Council’s Fostering Service, called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.

Hampshire Hive is a network established by Hampshire County Council to provide support to foster carers in the county. We speak to Hampshire Hive manager Amy and foster carer Johnny about how the Hive works

Hampshire Hive is a unique support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.

In this episode, you will hear from one of these foster carers - Johnny who was involved in the original pilot scheme for the service back in 2021 - and Amy, the team manager of Hampshire Hive. Both highlight how this community-focused fostering support network has been so transformational for the families they support.

If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack.  You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer. 

Please find the transcript here:

The Social Work Community podcast is where social workers come to discuss the key issues affecting their profession. Whether you are a student or an experienced social worker - whether you are frontline or management, this podcast is for you. You will hear direct from social workers in your community about their successes and their challenges.

Follow us on Instagram to keep up-to-date with the latest news and join the Social Work Community for all things social work.

In this episode, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans offer advice to  an experienced social worker who is looking for a role that offers career progression opportunities after going through some challenging experiences in practice.

Read the transcript here

Send us an email at: careersadvice@markallengroup.com

You can catch up on all the Ask The Experts episodes on The Social Work Community, our forum for social workers at all stages of their career.You can also read past career questions from social workers – and our experts’ responses – on the Community Care website.

This is another episode from the Social work around the world series!

This month the focus is on Zimbabwe. Sharmeen Ziauddin speaks to Theresa Kambani and Weston Mudimu about their careers as social workers in Zimbabwe to working in local authorities in England.
What are the key differences in practice in the two countries? What challenges did both practitioners face when they moved to England? What unique skills have they brought over with them? What do they miss about Zimbabwe and what made them choose England?

Theresa mentions 'ubuntu', a philosophy originating from Southern Africa, that promotes humanity towards others. It can be loosely translated to, "I am because we are", meaning the emphasis is on the interconnectedness of humanity and the importance of community, and this is at the centre of her practice.
A really informative discussion with a lot of learning for all practitioners.

Read the transcript.

About the podcast

The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives. Sharmeen and fellow host Kirsty Ayakwah interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.


Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

Join the Social Work Community

Senior social worker Faisa Abdirahman initially had her sights set on entering the police after gaining a BSC in criminology.
 
However, she pivoted to social work after learning that looked after children were at more risk of being criminalised in the criminal justice system compared to those that are not care experienced.
 
In this episode of the Social Work Community Podcast with senior careers editor Kirsty Ayakwah, she explains why her desire to support children and young people, earlier on in that journey resulted in her pivoting away from a career in the police force into social work.


Read the transcript of the interview here.

You can listen to our previous episodes in the Career Transitions Series.

*According to 2022 data from the Office of National Statistics, more than half (52%) of looked-after children born in the academic year ending 1994 who attended school in England had a criminal conviction by the age of 24 years compared with 13% of children who had not been in care. We’ll leave more details about the ONS statistics in the show notes. 

In this episode, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans offer advice to  an international student social worker who is struggling with aligning her expectations about social work with the reality of securing a role for her ASYE. 

Read the transcript here.

Send us an email at: careersadvice@markallengroup.com 

You can follow all the Ask The Experts questions and responses on: www.thesocialworkcommunity.comRead past questions from social workers with a career question and read the responses here.

Are you an adults’ social worker who is considering moving into children’s social work but don’t know how to make the transition?

In this episode, hear from Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans as they respond to this question and highlight the invaluable skills that adult social workers can bring to children’s services. They also highlight how you can find that relevant job, and why the British Army could hold the key in that transition.

Read the transcript here.

Send us an email at: careersadvice@markallengroup.com 

You can follow all the Ask The Experts questions and responses on: www.thesocialworkcommunity.comRead past questions from social workers with a career question and read the responses here.

This special episode was recorded for Refugee Week 2025. Sharmeen Ziauddin, careers editor at Community Care, speaks to Zahraa Adam and Aimee Hinton about their work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). They have worked with UASC for 10 years and have a wealth of experience.

Both Zahraa and Aimee are national social work award winners and Aimee holds a British Empire Medal for her contribution to social work.They are also age assessors and talk about how this assessment is carried out - this episode was recorded before the news that the Home Office agency, National Age Assessment Board, has been backed by the government despite BASW's opposition to it.

Expect emotional stories, the reality of working in this specialism and surprisingly a lot of laughter! An episode not to be missed!


If you want to find out more about working with UASC, you can register for a special webinar, Trauma-informed practice with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, run by Community Care Inform. You can find out more on our Events tab on Community Care's homepage. 

Read the transcript of this episode here.