Is it possible to work part-time as a newly qualified social worker?

[Roxietrees]

I’m seriously considering training to become a social worker. However I’m a single parent half the week (ex has DD other half of the week) DD is starting reception this Sept and I have no family support nearby, so full-time just wouldn’t be possible for me. Is it still worth training when I’m only (for the foreseeable future) going to be able to do part-time even when I’m newly qualified? Will I be able to get a job? I’m most interested in working in child or adult mental health. Ideally I don’t want to work in child protection.

You can do social work part time but there aren't a lot of positions available, plus you will find you may do extra hours to keep on top of your workload. I work in adults and would say it is probably easier to do part time then in children's where there is significant demand on you in terms of statutory visits etc.

You can do asye part time and it just takes you longer to do it, but I don't think you will find an employer willing to take you on. I was a single mum to 3 kids doing my asye full time with no family, you just need good childcare.

Most visits to children will take place out of school hours. It’s not uncommon to be working late or travelling up and down the country on occasion. I doubt you’d get a position in child mental health services straight away without good experience (you may already have this of course). I’d say more regular hours are better in adult services. ASYE positions are fairly competitive and services would probably prefer a full time worker. After completing that, there’s probably more flexibility. I’d aim to try to have child care in place for that period and try to do it full time.

… and not putting you off but have you considered occupational therapy instead? Far more regular hours and less stress in my opinion plus a wide range of sectors. More scope to work part time. Similar pay scales, pensions.

I recently retrained as a social worker. I could do the asye part-time but only because I have a registered disability. Where I am doing that part time isn’t possible just for child care reasons.

you don’t have to do asye - unless you want to work for local authority. There are other jobs you can do with a social work qualification.

The other thing to consider is your practice placements during training - there are usually at least two placements within your training and they are full time.

Ideally, to give you the best footing a spell in child protection gets you set up for any other children's team.
I do know people who haven't and i would say they don't have such a holistic knowledge of children's services. Also children's mental health ie CAMHS is highly unlikely to take a newly qualified worker unless you already had significant experience in that area.
Rather than part time could you do compressed hours?

I could definitely do compressed hours if that’d be an option that’d be fairly easy to come by? However I could only do 3 long days or 3 long ish days and 2 school hour days. Are flexible hours an option with most positions?

Hi, yes. I know a team where the social workers work all sorts of different compressed patterns

If you’re interested in mental health, have you thought about mental health nursing? MH nursing has a similar pay scale and retraining timetable to social work, and working 3-4 long days a week is pretty normal, even straight out of uni-but the training placement may also be an issue, although there is money for childcare support as part of the funding package. You could also work in CAMHS straightaway and would avoid child protection.

My LA wouldn’t employ a SW on a part time basis who was newly qualified . They do offer a 9day fortnight. And there may be some wiggle room post NQSW, team and service need dependent though.

NQSW positions are greatly sought after. We recently had 150 applications for 20 positions!

Could you use wrap around care?
You could plan your duty days (possibly) around the half the week you don’t have DD and you could only work (scheduled) late visits on the half the week you don’t have DD?

I did work part time as newly qualified and it was super hard even years ago. Your more immediate problem though would be the course. Placements are more like time and a half even if you are diligent, organised, and don’t have any unexpected thing happen. If you don’t have cover or good support I’m not sure how that would work. As a minimum full wrap around after school and breakfast club for placements. Best to talk to the uni you are thinking of?

Thank you for all the helpful replies. It’s definitely making me think twice about doing the training. I do feel strongly that this is the area I want to work in but I’m not willing to sacrifice time with my daughter. I know this is a privileged position to be in but she only lives with me half the week and is very young. She also doesn’t have a very stable life with her dad (currently going through the courts to hopefully improve this situation). On the 3 week days I have her I want to be able to pick her up from school and be there all afternoon/evening for her. For placements on the course I could sort out childcare on a temporary basis for the length of the placements but as for long-term prospects I wouldn’t choose a position that meant I’d be working those days and would need to get childcare. It’s sounding like the ability to get part-time work straight after qualifying is going to be very hard, maybe impossible?…