Qualified social workers recruitment

We understand your difficulties when trying to recruit QSWs amidst a national shortage of children’s services social workers. That’s why your local children’s services expert will work with you to find the right professionals to help safeguard the most vulnerable people in our society, whether you are looking to recruit for a permanent or temporary role.

To attract the best professionals to your role, your dedicated recruitment specialist will work collaboratively with you to ensure any QSWs you hire have manageable caseloads and the right support mechanisms in place.

We help you find the best social workers and social work managers to suit your organisation’s needs. Our specialists work in partnership with you to find frontline children’s social work managers who cover child protection and court work.

Our specialists have expertise and experience in fostering, adoption, local authorities, independent fostering agencies (IFAs) and regional adoption agencies (RAAs). On top of QSWs, our children’s services experts can also help you find the right professionals for audit, quality assurance and independent reviewing officer roles.

At Reed we have an extremely successful track record of matching clients with the right social workers covering adult services.

We are best placed to help you find the right QSW’s with experience across:

• Safeguarding adults

• Hospital discharge

• Community settings

• Mental health

• Disabilities

Our adult services experts are located across the country and work closely with local authorities, the NHS and the private sector. So, whether you’re looking for a temporary, permanent or interim member of staff, our experience and knowledge allows us to find the right candidate at any level – from social worker to senior manager.

We understand the values and ethical principles on which the profession is based. That is why all our social workers undertake a thorough interview process. The interview follows recommendations of The Warner Report 1992 and enables us to establish a fuller picture of each social worker’s character and attitude.

Reed is well-versed in the recruitment of interim and senior management for local authorities, the NHS and the third sector.

Our access to some of the UK’s top social work professionals and ability to source passive candidates allows our experts to find you the right manager for the service you offer. Whether you are seeking heads of service or assistant director level positions, our executive search specialists can assist you throughout the recruitment and onboarding process to ensure you have the right candidate to help shape your service.

When sourcing candidates at executive level for permanent roles, we have so much faith in the professionals we recommend that we offer up to an 18-month guarantee – the longest on the market.

We understand that organisations are always evolving, and requirements sometimes need to be assessed. To help you with this, we can also source independent reviewers who will scope things out and act as an independent scrutineer, recommending changes and improvements to help you move forward.

Care Solutions is Reed's specialist consultancy for Adult and Children’s Social Care. We provide tailored solutions that help organisations meet their regulatory obligations, manage operational pressures, and deliver transformation work to achieve long-term goals. Our work combines deep sector knowledge with flexible delivery, making us a trusted partner for services facing complex challenges.

We focus on practical outcomes. This includes helping services prepare for inspections and achieve inspection readiness, clear backlogs, improve practice and governance, and implement sustainable transformation. Every solution we deliver is designed to be measurable, embedded, and built for lasting impact, so organisations remain resilient and compliant.

Our team includes experienced social workers, technical experts, and specialist associates who work alongside internal teams. We take a collaborative approach, co-designing solutions that support statutory requirements and uphold regulatory standards. By setting clear success criteria and tracking results, we ensure impact that lasts.

Our Route to Market

Care Solutions delivers services through YPO’s fully compliant framework, providing clients with a secure and efficient way to award work directly, without the delays of lengthy procurement processes. This approach guarantees transparency, compliance, and speed, enabling organisations to access our expertise quickly and with confidence.

Reed understands the challenges that local authorities and education settings face in managing the scale of support required in SEND. We pride ourselves in offering a single point-of-contact, end-to-end solution for any challenges you currently face in meeting the demands of the Educational, Health and Care Plan process.

Our team is comprised of experts who specialise in provision of each professional involved in this process such as Educational Psychologists, SEN Caseworkers, EHC Plan Writers, Speech & Language Therapists or Occupational Therapists. We can deliver these professionals on a permanent or temporary basis or through a bespoke "Statement of Work" solution tailored to the specific needs of our clients.

Our offering is to deliver high-quality, efficient & cost-effective solutions to overcome the challenges of the SEND sector and, in doing so, get children and young people the support they need to learn effectively.