As part of our ongoing work to highlight the amazing work of social workers across Yorkshire & Humber, we are proud to announce our monthly award which celebrates social workers who go above and beyond.

Each of our partner local authorities and adoption agencies can make one nomination per month. The winner is picked by our guest judges - senior colleagues from different local authorities. Guest judges Di Drury (Assistant Director) and Louise Ambler (Principal Social Worker) of Calderdale had a tough time picking between our brilliant nominees, but one really shone through. Our first ever CSWM Award winner is Ellie Edward, a Social Worker from City of York Council – congratulations Ellie!

Ellie was nominated after her work with a local family who had no recourse to public funds. She provided them with tireless and compassionate support, researching their options and helping them to understand their rights during an extremely stressful time. After glowing feedback from the family, Ellie saw an opportunity to pass on what she had learned, and co-produced a training presentation with them, in turn helping others in their situation by strengthening social workers’ knowledge of this area of practice:

“Ellie has used research to inform her practice alongside personal supervision. The outcome has meant the family can move forward with their life and also work in partnership with Ellie to improve outcomes for other children and families too.” (Beth Hudson, Principal Social Worker, City of York Council)

Here's what Di and Louise had to say:

“We felt that the fact that Ellie had co-produced and co-delivered this with the family themselves was really impressive and an indicator of the trust she had developed with them.  The learning from this will help to improve outcomes for other families.  Working with no recourse to public funds is a complex area, so Ellie did well to get to grips with it.  It is also an area of work that needs our social work values and advocacy more than ever, to ensure that families receive the support they need." (Di Drury, Louise Ambler, Calderdale Council).

Martin Kelly OBE, City of York Council’s Corporate Director of Children’s Services, said:

“Ellie has demonstrated determination, passion and care in abundance in her work, all of which are essential qualities for social work and I’m delighted that she’s received this award. Social work can be incredibly rewarding and challenging - often in equal measure - so it’s great to see the difference we make to the lives of children and families’ across the region being celebrated in this way.”