The difficulties local authorities face in recruiting and retaining high quality children's social workers were underlined by recent figures showing that more than 3,800 children's social workers are needed to fill vacancies across councils in England.
Although workforce issues have existed for some time, Department for Education statistics suggest the problem may be getting worse. The 2013 vacancy rate of 14 per cent is double the 2012 figure of 6.9 per cent, which was itself an increase on the 6.1 per cent recorded in 2011.
The data also reveals the problems faced by individual children's services departments, with a third or more positions being vacant in nine authorities (see graph).
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