An employment-based fast track training programme has been approved by the General Social Care Council.

The programme which will begin next month will provide a new route into the industry for those wanting to work as children's social workers. Almost 200 graduates have already signed up to the scheme and they will be trained to a master's degree level in social work, whilst in employment.

The scheme called 'Step up to Social Work' was developed by the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and is open to graduates with a 2:1 or above who have experience of working with children and families.

Eight regional partnerships of local authorities will work alongside Salford University and Manchester Metropolitan University to train the graduates and those on the scheme will receive a salary of £15,000 a year.

According to Keith Brumfitt the director of strategy at the CWDC, this is the first time there has been a training route into social work jobs that is employment based and in collaboration with the master's degree.

He told Community Care: "We're bringing together the strengths of the employers and university, so people are able to do a bespoke training programme. We want to know from our work on the recruitment campaign 'Be the Difference', that some people want to do university-based training and some want to do employment based training."

"It's important to give candidates a choice," he added.

Next month, the CWDC will also launch their advanced social work professional scheme which allows experienced social workers to continue working on the front line, without having to move into management positions.