As part of a series of Lightning Talks from SPDS Portfolio Groups, Highland Council’s Head of People, Elaine Barrie, gave delegates an update on what the launch of the National Social Work Agency (NSWA) and the Scottish Social Work Partnership (SSWP) means for local government and HR teams.

Elaine Barrie, Highland Council

Both initiatives are currently in their shadow year and will be launching in 2026. Barrie explained that the NSWA aims to simplify the approach by focusing exclusively on social workers, whereas the SSWP is likely to be wider. Right now, “it’s about testing ways of working”, Barrie advised, as well as looking at strategic workforce planning and considering how to feed into the changes as they progress.

As an executive agency, the NSWA will operate with a degree of independence while remaining accountable to Scottish Government Ministers. It will be staffed by civil servants, supported by a team of professional expert lead social workers and overseen by incoming National Chief Social Work Advisor Joanna Macdonald, who will act as CEO.

It aims to work in partnership with the social work profession, people with lived experience, and partners to strengthen practice, elevate the profession, shape policy and drive positive change, taking a joined-up approach to social work policy. “It’s about trying to get social work at the heart of what’s happening,” said Barrie. The NSWA will launch with a strategic plan in 2026, at which point the Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser will cease to exist.

The SSWP meanwhile is a partnership aiming to lead a skilled, supported and sustainable social work workforce in Scotland. The principal partners are the NSWA, COSLA and Social Work Scotland. It will engage with partners and the workforce to develop a strategic plan and has the following immediate priorities:

• Education and learning: including pre-qualification and student support, post qualifying training and learning opportunities
• Professional governance and leadership including CSWO support and guidance, development of standards
• Workforce planning for current and future demand
• Implementation support (longer term): including social work research and local implementation support.

Louise Fraser, COSLA

Louise Wright, COSLA Policy Manager, encouraged HR leaders to get involved with shaping these workstreams, particularly workforce planning. “We’ve got the best possible opportunity to promote our social work workforce and ensure that we get the retention and the development we’ve been grappling with over many years,” she said.

HR teams should consider now what it could realistically mean for them to provide data and insights to support an enhanced national workforce plan for the Social Work Workforce, as well as thinking about what good practice and ‘quick wins’ they might be able to highlight as plans progress.

Get involved

Views and feedback will shape the strategic plans of both the SSWP and the NSWA.

To help shape a national plan for social work…

• Read the engagement pack SSWP-engagement-pack-National-developments-to-support-social-workers-for-web-Oct-2025.pdf
• Complete the survey 
• Sign up for updates 
• Email your thoughts, suggestions and concerns to socialwork@gov.scot

Blog by Katie Jacobs, an award-winning freelance journalist, writer and editor, who specialises in writing about the world of work. She was previously Editor of HR Magazine and Senior Stakeholder Lead at the CIPD.