What funding is available to take BSc Social Work(did a different degree 15yrs ago)

nonnatus

Good Grief!

So the country is desperately short of Social Workers. When my daughter looked into doing the degree straight after her A levels she was strongly advised to stay well away, get some life experience and toughen up. She was told by Social Workers, and Uni Lecturers that it's not the sort of profession that should be entered into as a 21 yr old due to nature of work and high stress levels.

But if you toddle off, get 10 years of "real life" behind you and THEN try and apply, you have to fund the whole course yourself (at £10k a year minimum??????)

Bonkers :cool:

Cranny44

Hi
I work in Adult social services (not a SW though).

We have care co-ordinators who are not qualified but train on the job they deal with all the care packages for the clients in the community and are paid about £18K a year for this. The coucil then lets them do NVQs and things and some get funded to become social workers.

The social workers (Known as Assessment Officers) in the team are paid more (approx £25K - £28K) but not all are social worker trained - one was a nurse in her previous life and another was a teacher of sorts, the other 2 were care co-ordinators for several years until the council funded their SW qualification. The Social Workers mainly deal with residential placements - ie respite and permanent care and not he community cases (which are often much more complex!!)

I know not all councils work in this way but there may be similiar opportunities in your area to get into social services without doing an expensive degree - our childcare teams are also run in a similar way with a family support worker (being a care co-ordinator) and then the social worker.

Most social workers do tend to be over the 25 age and have worked in a variety of situations but our latest care co-ordinator is only just 22.. although she is only part time and has another job dealing with council tenants face to face so has tons of other experience to bring.

Good luck - and dont give up sure you will find a way if you really want it

Dunroamin

nonnatus wrote: »

Good Grief!

So the country is desperately short of Social Workers. When my daughter looked into doing the degree straight after her A levels she was strongly advised to stay well away, get some life experience and toughen up. She was told by Social Workers, and Uni Lecturers that it's not the sort of profession that should be entered into as a 21 yr old due to nature of work and high stress levels.

But if you toddle off, get 10 years of "real life" behind you and THEN try and apply, you have to fund the whole course yourself (at £10k a year minimum??????)

Bonkers :cool:

Things have changed a great deal in those years; there's no longer a shortage of social workers as so many people have trained in the interim.

ODANN

I have just finished my 1st year of a BA SW degree. It is my second degree. In my experience the funding works as follows

1. You are not allowed any tuitiion fee loan
2. You do get NHS Social Work bursary [about 4k a year for me]
3. You do get a student maintainence loan

However, I know the rules have changed for Sept 2012 not sure how

froglet_2

Social work bursary is to change in 2013. Stays the same for this year.
See here for consultation
http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/05/consultation-launched-on-social-work-bursary/