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Social Work vocabulary · Services and Multi-Agency Work

Key worker

Meaning in social work, with examples

nounCommon term

In social work, key worker means: The main professional who coordinates a person's or family's support and is their first point of contact.

In Turkish: vaka sorumlusu, sorumlu çalışan

How it is used

Used in hostels, residential homes, mental health and family services. The key worker meets the person regularly, keeps the plan on track and liaises with other agencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, UK news also used key worker to mean an essential worker.

Example sentences

  1. Your key worker will meet you every week to review your plan.

  2. As key worker, I attend all the multi-agency meetings for this family.

Common collocations

  • named key worker
  • key worker session
  • allocate a key worker
  • key worker role
  • case managementA way of working in which one worker assesses a person's needs, plans and coordinates the services they receive, and reviews progress over time.
  • multi-agency workingDifferent organisations, such as social services, schools, health, police and charities, working together on the same case or problem.
  • care planA written plan setting out a person's needs, the goals to work towards, the services to be provided, who is responsible and when progress will be reviewed.
  • clientA person, family or group that receives help or services from a social worker or an agency.

More terms: Services and Multi-Agency Work

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