High caseloads and funding cuts ‘risk mass resignation of social workers’
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Soaring caseloads, staff shortages and cuts to local authority services risks a mass resignation of social workers, sector leaders have warned.
The British Association of Social Workers' first annual state of social work survey finds that just 23 per cent of social workers plan to stay in their current role over the next three years.
Of those who said they would not remain in their current role, 15 per cent said they planned to leave the profession entirely.
Carol Gibbens, a children’s social worker covering Sandwell and Dudley, told the survey that “from September 2020 onward the pressure on children, carers, schools and social work staff has been incredible and relentless”.
“Whilst I have always seen myself working as a social worker in this service until retirement...I’m now questioning whether in fact I will be able to even remain in the profession for that length of time due to the impact of the last two years for both my physical health and psychological wellbeing,” she said.
Recent figures released by the Department for Education on the children's social work workforce statistics show the number of children and family social workers leaving during 2021 was up by 16 per cent compared with 2020 and the highest number in the last five years.
Vacancies on 30 September last year were also at the highest level in the last five years.
Across children’s and adult’s social care, the BASW survey found that the main challenges faced by social workers include increasing workloads and underfunding of local authority services.
The majority of social workers said they had been working unpaid overtime in a bid to manage their caseloads with more than a third saying they worked, on average, an extra one to five hours per week.
Meanwhile, some 37 per cent of respondents reported that the numbers of people with whom they worked had increased during the pandemic and had not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
More than two-thirds of social workers said that national and local government failure to adequately fund social services was the biggest challenge faced by the profession. Cuts to local authority services was voted a close second in a list of the biggest challenges faced.
Despite this, a significant majority felt positively about working in the sector when asked if they agreed with the statement “I am happy working in the social work profession”.
BASW is calling on the government to launch a national social worker recruitment campaign and ensure the profession is aligned with sectors such as healthcare and education in terms of investment.
BASW’s chief executive Ruth Allen said: “Without urgent action we are risking highly motivated and experienced social workers leaving the profession.
“Without a fully staffed and resourced workforce, we risk social workers not being able to meet their obligations as individuals, and teams will be overstretched.
“The sector continues to face challenges from years of chronic underfunding in social services. If there is serious intent by government to address children and adults’ protection failures, giving the sector the resource and funding it desperately needs must happen urgently.”
