With adult social care facing ongoing workforce pressures, could additional social work apprenticeships be part of the answer? Nicole Steils, Mary Baginsky, Ian Kessler and Kalpa Kharicha present findings from the evaluation of the Department of Health and Social Care’s Adult Social Work Apprenticeship Fund 2024-2025. Full report (published 7 September 2026) available here | Project page at King’s. (710 words)

Social Work Apprenticeships in Adult Social Care

Adult social care services in England are facing major workforce challenges. There are ongoing difficulties in recruiting and keeping qualified social workers, while demand for services and the complexity of people’s needs continue to expand. Within this context, social work degree apprenticeships have become an increasingly important part of workforce planning. They provide an employment-based route to becoming a qualified social worker, while also aiming to support a sustainable workforce and widen access to the profession.

Social Work Apprenticeship Fund

In January 2024, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) introduced the Adult Social Work Apprenticeship Fund. The Fund aimed to help local authorities increase the number of social work apprenticeships and to expand support for apprentices by covering some costs that were not covered by the Apprenticeship Levy, now known as the Growth and Skills Levy.

The evaluation

Our evaluation looked at how the Fund was used, what helped or hindered the use, and what results it achieved. We examined data from 70 local authorities who received funding, and interviewed staff in 12 different local authorities.

What did the evaluation find?

Social work apprenticeships were seen as an important part of workforce plans. Local authorities used apprenticeships to help existing staff into apprenticeships as part of ‘grow your own’ initiatives to support career development and build a more sustainable workforce. Apprenticeships were also seen as a way to make social work education more accessible to people who otherwise may not have been able to follow a traditional university route because of financial restrictions or caring or other responsibilities.

The funding supported a wide range of activities. Aside from creating additional apprenticeship places or retaining the number of existing places, this included mentoring, supervision, practice education, programme coordination and workforce development.

However, the amount of funding used and the number of apprentices recruited varied between local authorities. More than one-third of the total funding was not spent and was returned to DHSC. There were several reasons for this. Local authorities identified several barriers to using the funding, including difficulties in recruiting apprentices and support staff, restrictions on how the funding could be used and a mismatch between the funding period and the length of an apprenticeship.

Challenges for local authorities

Although local authorities welcomed the Fund, there were concerns about the rules around how the money could be spent. In particular, funding could not be used for apprentice salaries or to cover costs while apprentices were studying and completing placements.  This meant that local authorities still had to absorb significant workforce and backfill costs associated with supporting apprentices through their training.

The evaluation also found that local authorities with stronger workforce development systems and good relationships with universities were often better placed to recruit additional apprentices and use their funding.

The benefits of apprenticeships

Despite these challenges, local authorities viewed social work apprenticeships positively. Apprentices were seen as developing strong practical skills and becoming well prepared for their roles because they stayed connected to frontline services during their training. They also developed a good understanding of local systems, procedures and workplace cultures.

Apprenticeships were viewed as a long-term investment that had the potential to reduce reliance on agency staff and create more sustainable career pathways. However, because many apprentices were existing employees, the extent to which apprenticeships widened entry to the profession for new recruits, including people from a wider range of local communities, was less clear.

What can we learn?

The evaluation found that the Adult Social Work Apprenticeship Fund made a valuable contribution and was welcomed by local authorities.

However, short-term funding, restrictions on spending and differences between funding periods and apprenticeship programmes limited what the Fund could achieve.

The findings suggest that successful social work apprenticeships require more than funding for apprenticeship places. They depend on sustained investment in the organisational, educational and workforce infrastructure needed to support employment-based professional education.

Nicole Steils, Mary Baginsky, and Kalpa Kharicha are researchers at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce at King’s. Ian Kessler is Professor of Public Policy and Management at King’s Business School.

This study forms part of the programme of work of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce at King’s. 

Report (September 2026)

Steils, N., Baginsky, M., Kessler, I., & Kharicha, K. (2026) An Evaluation of the Adult Social Work Apprenticeship Fund, London: NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce, The Policy Institute, King’s College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-258

Acknowledgments and disclaimer

We thank all participants for taking part in interviews and focus groups, and for additional information that was provided after initial conversations.

We would like to thank the members of the Unit’s Public and Community Involvement and Engagement Group for providing their views on the wider topic.

This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
Policy Research Programme (NIHR206121 – NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and
Social Care Workforce). The views expressed here are those of the authors and not
necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.