Trainee Social Worker

Approach Social Work (formerly known as the Frontline programme)

Looking for a career with purpose and a clear path for development?

As a social worker, you’ll work directly with children and families to make sure children are safe, supported and able to thrive. It’s a career that offers stability, progression and the chance to make a lasting difference. On this programme, you’ll be supported from day one and gain the skills, experience and master’s degree to succeed, wherever your career takes you.

About the programme

Approach Social Work is a fully funded training programme that helps you step into children’s social work with the training, tools and support to make a difference.

On the programme, you’ll develop a deep understanding of child-focused practice and how to build relationships that create real change. You’ll also explore anti-discriminatory, anti-oppressive and anti-racist approaches — and earn a master’s degree along the way.

What to expect

Year one:

• Begin study for your postgraduate diploma

• Work with children and families within a local authority, supported by experienced tutors and practice educators

• Receive a bursary of £18,000 or £20,000 (depending on location) to help with living and travel costs

Year two and three:

• Move into a paid role as a newly qualified social worker (up to £34,000, or more in some London boroughs)

• Keep working towards your master’s degree

• Join the Frontline Fellowship, a national community offering career-long support and development

The role:

You’ll learn how to build relationships, make difficult decisions and advocate for children’s safety and wellbeing. That means:

• Visiting a child at home or school

• Supporting a parent through difficult circumstances

• Working with teachers, health professionals or police

• Writing reports and helping decide what’s safest for a child

It’s a role that takes empathy, resilience and excellent judgment, rooted in anti-racist, anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice.

Who we’re looking for

You don’t need experience in social work, just the right values, resilience and commitment to making a difference. We welcome applicants from all degree backgrounds and are especially keen to hear from those underrepresented in the sector, including men and people from racially diverse communities.

Eligibility requirements

• Have at least a 2.2 (predicted or obtained) in an undergraduate honours degree (or international equivalent)

• Have obtained GCSE English Language at Grade C/4 or above (or approved equivalent qualification)

• You must have the right to work in the UK by the start of your employment (until September 2029.

• Be resident in England by the time the programme commences

• Not be a qualified social worker

Real support. Real skills. A career that matters.

Who we are

At Frontline – England’s largest social work charity – everything we do aims to make life better for children at risk of harm.

Each year, our nation’s social workers support hundreds of thousands of children who do not have a safe and stable home. They make a real difference to their lives and to those of their families. Our mission is to create social change for children and families, by developing excellent social work practice, leadership and innovation.

Approach Social Work is a fully funded training programme that helps you step into children’s social work with the training, tools and support to make a difference. On the programme, you’ll develop a deep understanding of child-focused practice and how to build relationships that create real change. You’ll also explore anti-discriminatory, anti-oppressive and anti-racist approaches — and earn a master’s degree along the way.

We also offer insight events and paid internships, to help you build the knowledge and skills to thrive in a social change career.

Diversity and inclusion

Frontline is committed to diversity and inclusion in all our work. We cannot achieve our mission without including a wide variety of voices, experiences, and perspectives.

Approach Social Work draws its strength from diversity and difference, for example through our practice hub model. We are looking for people who can bring different perspectives and experiences to the programme and are committed to advocating for the diverse communities that social workers serve.

Almost a third of the children who social workers support identify as being from a racialised ethnic minority group and over half identify as male. Despite this, only 22% of children’s social workers identify as from racialised ethnic minority groups and just 14% identify as male.

To make the greatest impact for disadvantaged children, we need to address this imbalance and bring more people into the profession from underrepresented groups.

Our aim is to increase the percentage of Approach participants from underrepresented groups, focusing on:

• Racialised ethnic minority groups

• Lower socio-economic backgrounds

• Men

We also aim to support people from marginalised groups who may face barriers in the recruitment process. Over the past five years, we have increased the percentage of racialised ethnic minority participants in the cohort from 15% to 39%. We continue to implement a clear diversity strategy and set targets for offers made to people from underrepresented backgrounds.