A model for more human, community-rooted social work
When we talk about adult social work, we start where most people start. We all want to live a good life, connected, safe, loved, and part of a community that knows our name.
Yet the way we organise statutory adult social work too often makes that harder than it needs to be. Time is lost to internal process, repeat recording, and handovers. Decisions take longer than they should. People and families experience delay, repetition and a sense of being processed rather than helped.
Unintentionally, we have built an industry where adult social work is forced to operate within a bewildering and inefficient system for distributing social care, and it too often delivers very little to the people who need care and support the most.
This is why local authorities should look seriously at developing statutory independent social work practices in adult services.
The legal route already exists
Independent adult social work practice is not a new idea. England has already tested delegated statutory models, and it is already possible for councils to authorise others to exercise specified social services functions.
The question is not whether councils can do this. They can. The question is whether councils will use that flexibility to redesign adult social work in a way that gives practitioners genuine room to practise.
Why independence is worth revisiting now
Adult social work is at its best when it holds steady alongside people through fluctuating health, changing capacity, grief, trauma, self-neglect, addiction, caring responsibilities and family tension.
People do not live in neat pathways. They live in probabilities and this is where independence can help. A statutory independent practice can be built with shorter decision loops, clearer delegated authority, fewer internal handoffs, and supervision that is rooted in practice rather than compliance.
That is what autonomy looks like in real terms. It is not less accountability. It is better professional judgement, applied sooner, closer to the person.
One of the surviving pilots is Focus
Independence does not remove demand or financial pressure. What it can do is change the conditions in which social workers practise, and that is often what determines whether good social work is possible day to day.
One of the pilots still going today is in north-east Lincolnshire. Adult social care is provided on behalf of the council by Focus Independent Adult Social Work. Focus sets out a clear front door through its Single Point of Access, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week including bank holidays, and it reports processing over 15,000 calls a year.
The lesson is that structural separation, when paired with the right contract and the right relationship with the council, can create space for professional autonomy and strengths-based practice, without losing a clear public front door.
What good independent practice can add
Independence is not only about whole service models. It is also about specialist social work capacity that can be brought in quickly and safely, as a partner offer to strengthen local systems.
There is already a professional infrastructure to build from. BASW’s Independents Directory sets out that BASW Independents adhere to the Code of Ethics and additional guidance for independent social workers, and it highlights professional indemnity cover for working members.
Specialist practice is not theoretical. Commissioned well, this kind of specialist capacity helps statutory teams make better decisions faster, reduces drift in high-risk situations, and builds confidence.
Commissioned badly, it becomes expensive spot purchasing that substitutes for a stable core workforce. The difference is commissioning intent and design.
Role for local authority trading companies
Many councils already use wholly owned companies and trading company models to deliver care and support. They are not usually social work practices, but they show that councils can create stable, arm’s length platforms with the ability to invest, recruit and operate at scale.
The Barnet Group is a local authority trading company created in February 2012 and owned by Barnet Council. Southend Care is a wholly owned by Southend on Sea City Council.
The question local authorities should now ask is whether similar vehicles could be developed, or commissioned alongside, as statutory independent social work practices.
If an organisation both assesses need and provides paid care, conflicts of interest must be designed out. Clear separation of decision-making, transparent oversight and robust audit are important.
The point is not to blur duties: it is to use governance models that councils already understand to create better conditions for professional social work.
What children’s trusts show
Children’s services show the principle at scale. Achieving for Children (AfC) describes itself as a community interest company created in 2014 by Kingston and Richmond to provide children’s services, with Windsor and Maidenhead joining as a third owner in 2017.
Richmond Council describes AfC as having independence and flexibility while working closely with councils to set priorities.
Adults’ services do not need to replicate children’s models. The lesson is simpler. Independence can create different conditions for practice and improvement, but only when governance and accountability are held firmly.
What councils should do next
If a local authority wants to free social workers to practise with more autonomy, without losing accountability, developing a statutory independent social work practice is a credible route. The cleanest way to start is with a focused pilot and a clear contract.
- Choose a defined scope, such as a locality, a cohort, or a function
- Design a social worker-led operating model with fewer internal handoffs and clearer delegated authority
- Set quality expectations that reflect practice, supervision, decision making and lived experience, not just throughput
- Hardwire safeguarding pathways, information sharing and escalation, so the system remains coherent to the person
- Build in stability. Short contracts produce short behaviour. Relationship-based practice needs time to mature, this includes robust funding structures
- Support functions such as HR and Finance through the development of Service Level Agreements
If we want adult social work that feels more human, more consistent and more community-rooted, then local authorities need to create conditions where social workers can practise with real autonomy, and people and families can rely on continuity rather than constant change.
Informed by conversations with Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE, associate director at Think Local, Act Personal Partnership (TLAP)