Becoming agile in local authority children's safeguarding social work services: examining organisational and individual change in public sector work

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Since 2010, agile approaches have been implemented increasingly enthusiastically by local authorities and the NHS in the UK. 'Agile' means approaches that are designed to enable simpler, more flexible organisational systems and working practices, which respond more directly to the needs of people using services. Changes include moving services online and providing employees with laptop computers or smart phones so they can work more remotely and flexibly. Agile approaches are seen as helping services to be more adaptable and workers to be more resilient in the face of complex, shifting requirements. Another key driver is that they allow services to be delivered more cheaply in the context of continuing public sector austerity.In children's safeguarding social work, agile approaches have led to new working practices such as hot-desking, home-based working and increased communication between colleagues via digital information systems. Hot-desking, in particular, has received significant attention in the social work press and some academic commentators have suggested agile approaches leave social workers more isolated. The few studies conducted so far have suggested differences between service leaders' expectations of agile approaches and social workers' practices on the ground. These studies found service leaders expected agile approaches to lead to financial savings, enhance social workers' communication, and offer greater flexibility for social workers to balance work and non-work commitments. Most social workers viewed them as offering greater flexibility about where and when they could carry out recording work, and how they could communicate with colleagues and service users. However, these ways of working also raised questions about how to keep users' personal information secure in public and non-work spaces, and changing forms of communication with colleagues and service users.Further research is needed into agile working practices and their implications for services' effectiveness, and users' and social workers' experiences. This project aims to:1 Document and analyse service leaders', social workers', supervisors' and service users' accounts of agile approaches, the practices and relationships they entail and their intended outcomes2 Identify the knowledge and beliefs about children's safeguarding social work on which these accounts rely;3 document and analyse the range of social workers', supervisors' and service users' practices, relationships and experiences when engaged in agile working, and identify the factors influencing them;4 examine how these identified practices impact on social workers' and service users' communication and sense-making.The project will involve research in three different local authorities, including observations of 100-130 instances of social work practice, and interviews with 40-60 participants about their views and experiences of agile approaches. The project will lead to detailed case studies of the three authorities and approximately 20 social workers' practice, and evidence about the implications of agile approaches in children's safeguarding social work and in public sector services more widely. It will produce the following resources:1 for practitioners: practice guides considering communication, working relationships, supervision, data security and self-care when working in agile contexts; tools which enable practitioners to reflect on their experiences of agile working and identify its implications;2 for practice leaders and policy makers: evidence about best practice in implementing agile approaches, case studies demonstrating the positive and negative implications of different approaches and practices, and how these can be effectively managed;3 for social work educators: teaching resources to enable learning about agile approaches, working practices and their implications for service users and social workers.