Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

Due to maintenance, the following systems will be unavailable from 11.45am on Tuesday 24 December until 8.00am on Thursday 2 January: our online Council Tax, business rates and housing benefit services, and our welfare assistance form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Newly qualified social work academy

Our social work academy was established in 2016 and we have dedicated practice leads who support you from graduation, recruitment and throughout your assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) to help lay a strong foundation for a long and rewarding career.

To help you make the transition from student to social worker we offer a mixture of one-to-one, action learning in small groups and classroom opportunities for you to learn, grow and blossom. We also have enhanced practitioners in teams who can be your mentor.

Your ASYE is assessed by observation, feedback and electronic portfolio at 12 months, but the learning does not stop there. Our ASYE programme offers support and bespoke CPD in year two as well, such as section 47, advanced court skills, victim focus, graded care profile, advanced signs of safety, with opportunities for progression link work and practice education.

"Doing my ASYE in Durham was the best decision I ever made, the academy was fantastic and I felt so supported. I have now developed my career and I am a Practice Educator supporting students which I love." (Enhanced Practitioner)

Whatever your route into social work Contact Social Work Academy.

Social Work Academy

Email socialworkacademy@durham.gov.uk

Document downloads

Guide for Newly Qualified Social Workers (PDF, 1 MB)(opens new window)