Help develop more resources for social workers working with autistic people and people with learning disabilities

BASW has produced capabilities statements and continuous professional development (CPD) frameworks on working with autistic adults and adults with learning disabilities.

This important work was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and developed in consultation with the sector, including people with lived experience.

We are now developing additional resources and activities to support social workers working with autistic people and individuals with learning disabilities to help embed the frameworks into social work practice.

Get involved

We want to understand what you know about the capabilities statements, and what tools and resources are needed to support social workers, employers and people with lived experience.

If you would like to learn more about this project or get involved please contact Liz.Howard@basw.co.uk

What we will do

The project team will work in partnership with the sector, including people with lived experience, to increase awareness of the statements and CPD frameworks, and develop a range of resources and activities to support their usage.

We will produce:

• An academic component to CPD, in partnership with higher education institutions (HEIs) – including an outline curriculum. We will also produce an approach to post-qualifying training in practice
• Alignment of the pathways to the CPD framework developed by Social Work England and with the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) and Knowledge and Skills Statements (KSS) for social work with adults
• A range of evidence-based learning resources and approaches to support embedding the use of CS and the CPD pathways in post-qualifying education, training and practice
• Resources to support coproduction of training and development programmes with people with lived experience
• A campaign plan to promote the use of CPD pathways in education, training and practice
• A self-assessment and improvement resource for organisations to support practice development
• Partnership

The project is funded by the DHSC and led by the BASW, in partnership with the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), and Research in Practice for Adults (RIPfA).

It is supported by a cross-sector Advisory Group including practitioners, experts-by-experience and educators, and informed by wider consultation.

It is part of a wider drive to develop a standardised framework for post-qualifying Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for working with specific groups of users of adult services in all settings in England.

Parents, carers and people with lived experience have been directly involved in the project so far to provide valuable input and insight, to inform and shape both capability statements.