Social work exits prompt shortage concerns

Concerns are growing over the recruitment and retention of children’s social workers as figures show increasing numbers quitting the profession, leaving local authorities relying on agency staff to fill vacant posts.

Department for Education figures, published in February, show the number of children and family social workers who left their posts in 2021 was up by 16 per cent compared with 2020 – the highest number in five years.

Vacancies on 30 September last year also hit the highest level in five years.

The British Association of Social Workers’ (BASW) first annual state of social work survey shows just 23 per cent of social workers plan to stay in their current role over the next three years, with 15 per cent saying they want to leave the profession entirely.

Factors for leaving

Social Workers Union general secretary John McGowan says issues faced by children’s social workers can be divided into four areas: caseloads, resources, workload pressures and respect for the profession.

While the DfE claim caseloads have stayed the same or even gone down, this does not present the whole picture, McGowan says.

A key reason for this is increased complexity of cases over the last few years, he adds, with more work required for each case.

“Before, a social worker might have had quite a lot of cases but only a small number might have been at the high protection or safeguarding level,” he explains.

President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) Steve Crocker says the pandemic has exacerbated this issue, with the impact of Covid-related job losses and other pressures on families leading to more “high stress” work.

“That’s not really showing any signs of abating,” he says, adding these “high level” referrals to children’s services could be the “new normal”.

Anna Bacchoo, director of practice at What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC), adds that “Covid has had a negative effect on the workforce in terms of burnout”.

A report by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which will put forward its recommendations for reform to the government, identifies high stress and lack of mental health support as key issues leading to increased staff turnover.

BASW’s survey finds the main challenges faced by social workers are increasing workloads, with the majority saying they have been working unpaid overtime, as well as underfunding of local authority children’s services.

Impact of racism

A survey of social workers by key organisations including WWCSC finds one in 10 social workers have considered leaving their role due to racism.

More than a third of black or Asian respondents report experiencing incidents of racism from service users and families, while these social workers experience higher workloads, increased scrutiny of their work and negative assumptions about their skills.

Bacchoo says this shows racism “has played a part for some people” who have left their jobs.

“There’s a really serious problem,” she says, adding: “The latest figures around turnover are the highest of any public sector profession so it really is a crisis in children’s social care workforce retention.”

The results of the survey will shape a forthcoming action plan to address racism within social work by the Anti-Racist Steering Group.

Action on retention

Crocker, who is also director of children’s services in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, explains there is a need for a national campaign “to support recruitment for social workers and to show the great things the profession can do”.

He says this should include highlighting “the ways in which we can change children’s lives for the better”.

McGowan agrees that “better promotion” is needed to improve public perception of children’s social work.

However, Crocker also points out that people still want to enter social work “because it’s a values-based profession”. For him, the bigger problem is around retention and ensuring people “don’t become disillusioned”.

He notes the “phenomenon in social work about people jumping around to different agencies and getting more money” needs to be better understood.

This does not happen to the same extent in policing, nursing or teaching, he says.

“It’s about how we effectively tie people in a positive way to their organisation and guarantee them a certain level of training and a career pathway,” he adds.

The issue of career progression while remaining in family-facing roles is raised in the Care Review’s workforce engagement summary.

It found many managers reluctantly give up frontline work to progress their careers and boost income.

Crocker says recent South East Sector Led Improvement Programme workshops show the things that would attract agency workers back to local authorities include better salaries, workplace flexibility, career progression and improved support.

Bacchoo also suggests there are issues around flexibility of roles, arguing people are “reassessing their work/life balance as a result of the pandemic”.

It is possible to get on top of the issue through a regional approach, as demonstrated by the Children’s Social Work Matters initiative in Yorkshire and the Humber (see below). But the fragile workforce situation also looks set to force councils to improve terms and conditions in an effort to recruit and retain children’s social workers.

CASE STUDY
BETTER SUPPORT HELPS YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER RETAIN SOCIAL WORKERS

Yorkshire and the Humber’s Children’s Social Work Matters programme was set up 10 years ago to build links between the region’s 15 local authorities.

Its website has proven a huge success, with its jobs page resulting in a huge jump in applications from across the region, while information sharing through in-person and online talks and training – crucial during the pandemic – has helped people feel supported.

The region has consistently achieved lower than average workforce vacancy, turnover and agency worker rates.

The programme’s lead Melanie John-Ross says: “We have been approached by other children’s services teams in England looking to replicate our model.”

Social Workers Union general secretary John McGowan says local authorities that have got it right “are providing good leadership and management training”.

They have good training around stress and wellbeing support, and also professional development as well as reflective supervision and helping to manage caseloads, he adds.

McGowan says these local authorities are employing permanent staff not agency staff.

Those that have got it wrong have “not got good working conditions, they’ve not got good leadership, they’ve got poor management training and they’re not addressing the stress and wellbeing support for staff and poor professional development”, he adds.