Hear from two of our staff about their social work journey at Wigan Council.
Charlie Taylor
Charlie joined Wigan in 2014 on a 12 month social work placement as part of the Frontline programme. This is one of the national entry route programmes to social care which Wigan is part of.
The Frontline programme has been running for many years and to gain a place on the programme Charlie had a degree (in Sociology not in Social Work). When Charlie applied to the Social Work programme she could either pick to have a placement in London or Greater Manchester. She picked Greater Manchester and was allocated a placement in Wigan.
Even though Charlie was from the Midlands she has relocated to Wigan for her placement and lived here ever since. Charlie is still in touch and really good friends with some of her colleagues who were on the Wigan and GM cohort!
When Charlie joined Wigan she was part of a team of four Frontline students under the supervision of an experienced qualified consultant social worker. Throughout her 12 month placement she was able to work with a wide range of different children, families and services across social care, including Children in Need, Child Protection and Looked After Children, with oversight from her Consultant Social Worker.
The Frontline unit worked closely together and supported each other and the support they received included co-working cases, regular team check-ins and weekly group reflective case discussions. The low caseloads in the team and intensive work undertaken with families are key to learning about social work practice and really gave Charlie time to build up her knowledge, skills and confidence.
After her placement, Charlie was offered a 12 month temporary social work post in the localities team. She found this was a big step up from a small caseload, and involved intensive work with families. But she really enjoyed her role and received dedicated support throughout.
After three years in a locality team, Charlie moved across to the Duty service to gain more social work experience in a different area. After about 4 years, Charlie successfully secured a promotion at Wigan to coordinate and support future students on the Frontline programme as a Consultant Social Worker.
Since then, Charlie has moved to the quality assurance team and supports our newly qualified social workers across Children’s Social Care during their first year in employment.
Alex Parsons
I started working in Wigan as a student social worker for my final 100-day placement in the locality team, which I successfully completed. I then joined Wigan as a newly qualified social worker in 2013 and worked in a locality team, during which I developed my knowledge and skills as a social worker.
I had the opportunity to shadow and work alongside more experienced colleagues and co-worked cases within Child in Need, Child Protection and Looked After Children with a protected case load and regular supervision.
After 6 years of locality social work I decided to apply for the Advanced Practitioner role which I moved into in December 2019 within a locality team. I have been able to offer support to the team of social workers alongside the team manager, as well as provide routine one to one support for the newly qualified social workers within the team.
I've enjoyed this role and have been able to utilise my experience within this job to help and support my colleagues. One of the most important aspects of this job is working within your team and feeling supported in the role as a social worker.
I have recently been appointed as Wigan’s Workforce Transformation Manager, a role that I am excited to start and will continue to work closely with our social care staff. One of my main focuses will be the recruitment and retention of our social workers.