Peter Hay, strategic director for people at Birmingham City Council, said the council must stick resolutely to a policy of a “fair workload” for children’s social workers even if that means work goes unallocated.
Hay said that the authority had decided to raise spending on temporary staff to fill children’s services posts after a government-commissioned independent review of the department by professor Julian Le Grand raised concerns about social work practice.
However, the approach has seen agency staff now make up nearly half of some social work teams, and the number of permanent posts that are vacant has almost doubled from a year ago.
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