Members' Week: why is analysis so important in social work?

Members' Week blog: why is analysis so important in social work

• Date:12 Mar 2026

As social workers we can gather information, make observations, have conversations, but it's essential that we then reflect on what all of that information means; otherwise, we should question why we need the information at all. It’s often just assumed that, as social workers, we know how to analyse and make sense of information, but its a skill that needs both thinking and reflection space - and practice!

In 2025, we published a new and updated kinship assessment and support plan template (Form K), an updated fostering assessment (Form F), and an updated Child Permanence Report (CPR). We wanted to empower social workers to feel more confident in how to analyse the information they gather when either assessing prospective carers, or making recommendations about a child’s care plan; that’s why we updated the guidance section on our core forms to have a greater emphasis on analysis.

1. Why is analysis a core social work skill?

As social workers, we’re tasked with recommending and making decisions that have significant impact on children's and family's lives, and sometimes these decisions can be life changing. The law sets out a local authority’s wide-ranging duties to promote the welfare and safeguard the children in their area. Our role requires us to meet these legal duties, through a huge range of activities including, but not limited to, completing assessments of need and capacity, providing support and interventions, and, at times, exercising significant power in people’s lives. It is essential, therefore, that we are able to draw meaning from the information available to us and make decisions about what is proportionate to include. It must inform these assessments and interventions, to ensure we are making safe, sound and child-centred decisions. Analysis is the ability to draw meaning from this information.

2. Why is the ability to draw meaning from facts essential for making safe, child‑centred decisions?

The Oxford Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care defines analysis as:

“the examination of an issue, problem, topic or situation that goes beyond describing it and includes (one or more of) theories, thoughts, opinions and judgements”

As children’s social workers we are examining and assessing either a child’s situation to form a professional judgement about their welfare, need or safety, or an adult’s situation to form a professional judgement about their ability to promote a child’s welfare, meet a child’s needs or keep that child safe. But that assessment and professional ASF then needs to inform what happens next. And so the decisions about what happens next need to be informed by careful examination of facts, observations and information, to think about what this means for a child. Even when we are writing about adults, we need to ensure that we keep the child at the centre of our thinking, for example, how will the adult’s behaviour, attitudes, or skills impact the child’s experience of their day-to-day life?

3. How does analysis help ensure a clear rationale behind a recommendation?

We know that many of the recommendations we make as social workers have a huge impact in people’s lives and can be life changing. But “social care work is filled with situations in which no response can be entirely right” (Featherstone et al., 2018). Assessment work, and therefore the analysis and decision-making that is required, is an ethical and value driven activity. And, it is essential that there is a considered rationale that explains the response; both to enable the continuing work and further decisions that may be required, but, most importantly, to ensure families in whose lives we are intervening have a rationale that should make sense to them, even if not everyone agrees with the response or decision that follows. Forrester states, “assessments are made to share,” and that this sharing allows for “accountability” and, therefore, “a well-written assessment is vital” (2024).

4. How does emphasising analysis align with anti‑racist, anti‑oppressive and trauma‑informed practice?

As analysis is an ethical and value driven activity, it is essential that our practice is underpinned by the ethics and values of anti-racism and anti-oppression, and that our interventions are trauma-informed. “No-one comes to the role of the social worker as a blank sheet” (Weekes, A and Harvey, D) - bias exists in all of us, both unconsciously and consciously and therefore it is imperative that we recognise that bias, acknowledge its potential influence, and proactively work to ensure bias is not the driver of any analysis or response through anti-racist practice. Anti-oppressive 

5. What are some features of good analysis?

Good analysis requires time and space to reflect, interrogate our assumptions and biases, and, to think critically.

Good analysis is concise and avoids repetition. It is child-focused and keeps the child central even when describing the behaviour of adults. It should be confident and authoritative, and include professional opinion. It should be written in straightforward language that everyone can understand, avoiding jargon or language that may have different meanings to different readers. Furthermore, good analysis needs to be specific about the behaviours, qualities, and attitudes being relied upon, and be balanced, being honest about both strengths and vulnerabilities.  Good analysis also confidently recognises what is not known, but weighs up the significance of any gaps in knowledge. 

6. What do you hope is the result of putting in the emphasis on analysis in the guidance?

We hope that it will support social workers to recognise why analysis is needed, and how it can be done well, so confidence and skill can be developed. Good analysis enables robust and child-focused decision-making and can communicate ethical and anti-oppressive social work that meets the needs of the families we work with.

7. Useful resources on analysis

There is a section on what makes good analysis and suggested sentence starters for articulating analytical thinking in the guidance for all of our recently published forms, and in the updated books that accompany these. For example, ‘Undertaking a Kinship Care Assessment’ book also contains prompts throughout the book of what to analyse. Some of our training courses include information about tools that support analysis, such as the Research in Practice Five Anchor’s Principles, Wonnacott’s Discrepancy Matrix, and Rolfe et al Critical Reflection Model. For a deeper dive into analysis and critical-thinking we recommend:

Writing evidence-based and analytical assessments | CoramBAAF