Briefing: U-turn on agency ban

Plans to ban the use of agency social work teams were one of the most eye-catching and controversial proposals in Stable Homes, Built on Love, the government’s response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

Published in February, the policy document proposed to outlaw the employment of whole teams as one of several measures to reduce reliance on temporary staff, the amount councils are spending on agency workers and create greater parity in levels of pay between temporary and employed practitioners.

• Probe reveals how funding rate cut will hit council childcare role
  
  

The proposal followed an investigation by CYP Now, which was cited in the government’s response to the Care Review, that found a 10-fold rise in agency teams being used by local authorities in last five years, amounting to a total cost of £41m across all councils.

However, in its response to a consultation on the proposals published recently, the Department for Education stepped back from plans for an outright ban and instead set out new measures for greater oversight of councils’ use of agency social workers (see below).

Was the U-turn due to lack of support?

No. The public consultation on the proposals reveals that 57 per cent of respondents agreed that project teams should no longer be used, while 30 per cent disagreed.

Council-employed child and family social workers were more likely to agree with the proposal in comparison with agency social workers, while responses from local authorities noted the damaging impact that reliance on project teams can have on relationship-based social work.

However, the DfE says that it changed its stance after some respondents identified circumstances where it may be appropriate to use project teams.

Has the decision been welcomed?

Not universally. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) says it is “disappointing” the original proposals have not been taken forward.

ADCS president John Pearce says: “We have not seen any positive case for the use of project teams to undertake case-holding social work and the original proposal to remove them from these activities would be clearer and in the best interests of children and young people.”

However, Kate Shoesmith, deputy chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), says she is “glad” the government has reconsidered “as that is the way to prevent a chunk of workers leaving the social worker profession entirely”.

Who else supports the U-turn?

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) backed the decision.

A BASW statement adds: “We welcome the decision not to progress with a requirement that may have led to experienced agency workers being paid less than an equally experienced permanent employee.”

How will new arrangements work?

The DfE paper states the oversight rules will put pressure on local authorities to avoid agency teams carrying out case-holder work and “incurring unnecessary expense to councils” and work with agency suppliers to access workers “in ways that support effective workforce planning and in the best interests of children”.

The DfE has also pledged to set out statutory guidance governing the supply of all social work staff which will need to comply with a set of employment and governance requirements.

“The engagement of each of the constituent workers of any agency team contracted within local authority child and family social work (including project teams) will be subject to all the other national rules we will set out in statutory guidance,” it states.

Do all sides support the new measures?

The ADCS says it hopes the DfE’s national rules “will go some way to easing” the financial pressures councils are facing “and ensure project teams are solely used for projects in the future”. It adds that the statutory guidance underpinning the rules “must ensure there are no loopholes that can be exploited”.

While pledging to work with the government over the new rules, REC’s Shoesmith adds: “We need to make social work as attractive a profession as possible – and that means offering flexible work which is only really provided by agency contracts.”

BASW says the measures fail to address the reasons social workers opt to join agencies.

“Organisational culture, cost-of-living, the need for flexibility, and instances of racism and bullying continue to influence these choices. Implementing restrictions without addressing these core issues risks pushing experienced social workers out of the profession,” it states.

• Consultation response from www.gov.uk/government/consultations/child-and-family-social-worker-workforce

  
  
  

WHAT ELSE WILL THE NATIONAL RULES COVER?

• The national rules, which are expected to be implemented next spring, will also include guidelines on imposing regional price caps for agency workers, strengthening contracts to include areas such as notice periods, which currently stand at as little as a week, and a ban on engaging agency staff with less than three-years’ experience post-qualifying.

• The response specifies that local authorities will have a duty to ensure they are adhering to some of the rules within their regions, including stipulations around price caps.

• The rules are also expected to include a three-month “cooling-off” period in which local authorities cannot employ agency workers who have been engaged to work with them within the time frame.