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<p>Local authority social workers provide statutory support for children in need of
help and protection. The department does not hold data on the proportion of the 29,470
full-time equivalent local authority social workers in England who are working in
schools as most social workers will hold cases for children who are attending several
different schools. Where additional support is provided within school, it is for headteachers
to decide how to spend their budget to best meet the needs of their pupils; some choose
to employ trained social workers as part of their pastoral support provision.</p><p>Analysis
from the June 2019 Children in Need review shows that of all state schools in England
in 2017-18: only 2% of schools (499) do not have a single pupil to have been in need
of a social worker since 2012-13; in almost a third of schools these children make
up between 5-10% of the pupil population; in 12% of schools, over 20% of the pupil
population were at some point in need of a social worker.</p><p>As part of a What
Works Centre for Children’s Social Care (WWC) Change Programme focussed on moving
services closer to children and families, £2.4 million funding was made available
in 2019-20 for local authorities and children’s services trusts to test social workers
being based in schools. The WWC is working with 3 local authorities -- Lambeth, Southampton
and Stockport -- to set up and evaluate new ways of working in which social workers
work in schools to prevent harm to children and deal more effectively with harm where
it occurs. The evaluation of the programme will begin in Spring 2019 and run until
March 2020, when a final report will be published.</p><p>In addition, 2 Opportunity
Areas - Stoke and Hastings - are testing the effectiveness of models which embed social
workers in schools. In the recently published ‘Help, Protection, Education: concluding
the Children in Need review’, the department committed to learn from and consider
how to build on the evidence from these trials.</p><p> </p>
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