Social work associate practice programme: a Children's Improvement Board reference document

The Children’s Improvement Board (CIB) have been working to improve performance in children’s services through development of the Social Work Associate Practice Programme (SWAPP), a programme to support frontline managers in practice improvement in safeguarding and children’s care. This 'Reference' document has two main audiences The first of these audiences are frontline managers who will be SWAPPed to provide support between local authorities in order to learn and disseminate best practice in the management of child protection and care services. The second of the two audiences are the more senior managers and other staff who will enable or manage these programmes. Using a systems approach, the SWAPP Reference Document is designed to help local areas improve that process at the frontline. The Reference Document is intended to assist with local thinking and also provide access to further practical resources that can also help to further develop that thinking. Whilst not located in a single model a thread that runs throughout, is the need to recognise complexity and think systemically about the issues local areas face less.

This is public access on the Local Government Association Website