£1,000 for graduate social workers - graduate jobs

The minister for care services has announced plans to offer newly qualified social workers £1,000 in the wake of the Baby P case to attract more graduates to the sector.

Under the plans newly qualified adult social workers and their supervisors will be given a grant to help support them in their first year of practice.

The £4 million injection has been announced by Phil Hope on World Social Work Day to offer workers the help, supervision and training opportunities they need to make the transition from a student to a "confident practitioner".

Mr Hope said just like newly qualified drivers, "newly qualified social workers can need extra support at the beginning of their careers".

Councils can apply for the funding for each newly qualified social worker they employ in their first year, and an additional £1,000 for their supervisor.

The minister also announced plans to create a toolkit of resources for the sector to support new social workers as well as a personal development planning tool to record professional development and post-registration training.