Practice Centre platform supporting frontline social workers

The Practice Centre is a knowledge base used by frontline social workers to access guidance, policy, and tools that support their day-to-day work.

This work often takes place in complex and high-pressure environments, where access to clear and accurate information is critical. Social workers need to be able to trust what they are reading and find it quickly when it matters most.

The challenge was to design and deliver a platform that could meet these needs, while also supporting ongoing change. The system needed to be accessible, easy to navigate, and able to evolve alongside the organisation as practice and policy develop.

It also needed to balance a wide range of content with usability, ensuring information remains structured, maintainable, and relevant over time.

The work began with a human-centred research and codesign phase, working alongside partners and frontline staff to understand how the Practice Centre is used in real-world situations.

This helped define usability requirements and shape a platform that reflects how social workers actually access and use information day to day.

Following this, we contributed to the design and development of the Practice Centre, building a structured and accessible knowledge base on the Common Web Platform.

Since launch, the work has continued as an ongoing partnership. Through a regular cadence of planning and delivery, we support continuous improvement, ranging from small usability enhancements to larger feature development.

This approach allows the platform to evolve in response to real needs, while maintaining stability and long-term maintainability.

The Practice Centre is now a core tool used by social workers to access guidance and support their work. Improvements over time have made it easier to find, understand, and apply information in real situations.

The platform’s focus on accessibility and structure helps ensure information is usable for a wide range of users, while maintaining consistency and clarity.

Ongoing improvements mean the platform continues to adapt alongside the organisation, rather than becoming static or outdated.

The long-term partnership has also enabled more efficient delivery, with a strong understanding of both the platform and its users.

Overall, the Practice Centre remains a reliable and trusted resource that supports better outcomes in frontline work.