Vulnerable children and their families in Buckinghamshire are set to benefit from a major new training scheme for social workers which has been launched in Wycombe.

The initiative, called the Social Work Academy, is a partnership between Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire New University.

The council says it hopes this move will help to overcome the national shortage in social workers for children and families by allowing it to recruit and retain the best staff possible.

Last year the council was rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted for it's children's social services - with staff levels being a key concern.

The academy consists of regular masterclasses for students, new social workers and more experienced staff - giving ongoing up-to-date training for whoever needs or wants it.

It was launched at the university last Wednesday and the first session was attended by a mix of council staff and university students at the Owen Harris Lecture Theatre.

"I am really excited by this idea," said Lin Hazell, County Council cabinet member for children’s services. "We know nationally and locally there is a worrying shortage of social workers and the lack of staff - and too much reliance on agency workers - was a factor in the Ofsted outcome rating last year.

"We are well on the way to improving our services, but cannot really be totally successful until we have ensured we can recruit and retain the very best staff to work with our county’s vulnerable children.

"And we can only do this if we give them incentives to come here to work, and then to stay here. The value of regular training simply cannot be underestimated in terms of staff morale - and is also a fantastic recruitment incentive."

There is no cost to taxpayers, apart from staff time in setting up the academy which will hold at least four masterclasses a year.

Academics at Bucks New University will develop and lead the sessions which will feature guest speakers who are experts in their field. In return, the university will be guaranteed placements at the Council for a number of its social work students.

Sinclair Coward, Head of Academic Department, Social Work and Integrated Care at Buckinghamshire New University, said: ''"I’m confident that the masterclasses, led by leading academics at Bucks New University, will sharpen the skills and knowledge of social workers in Bucks and contribute greatly to improving the quality of services to those that matter most."

The key speaker on Wednesday was Niki Clemo, Service Director - Children’s Social Care of Cambridgeshire County Council. She spoke about the dramatic improvement journey for her council which turned an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted report for its children’s services into a ‘good’ one in less than two years. She said: "I am delighted to be part of the launch of the Social Work Academy. Investing in the professional development of social workers is key to ensuring that we continue to improve social work practice."