The ‘team’ in child and family social work: exploratory findings from a longitudinal study on factors influencing the retention of child and family social workers in England

Scholar, H, McLaughlin, H ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3916-0506, Pollock, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1106-6705 and McCaughan, S (2025) The ‘team’ in child and family social work: exploratory findings from a longitudinal study on factors influencing the retention of child and family social workers in England. Journal of Social Work Practice, 39 (1). pp. 5-20. ISSN 0265-0533

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Abstract

This paper draws upon qualitative data from a Department for Education (DfE) funded longitudinal study of child and family social workers in England, carried out between 2018 and 2022 exploring factors affecting recruitment and retention, involving annual surveys and follow-up interviews in each year of the project. The changing practice environment during the study–pre, during and post Covid–provided a unique opportunity to consider practitioners’ experiences of teams in the workplace during a challenging context. This paper reports the inductive discovery of the importance of teams for retention of staff. Findings include perspectives on team composition; ways of working; leadership, and the relationship between team experiences and worker satisfaction. Key messages include the importance of team support; of loyalty and commitment to the team; and the value of including non-social workers as team members. The paper concludes with messages about the contributions of supportive teams to practice improvement and staff retention and suggestions for further research.