Agenda item

The Panel received an update report on developments relating to the qualified children’s social work workforce. The Chief Executive highlighted that it was an ongoing and difficult challenge to ensure that there was a sufficient number of effective social workers recruited and retained and it was a key issue identified by the Care Review. Effort was focussed on trying to ensure that WCF was an employer of choice for qualified social workers who demonstrated high standards of practice.

The Group Manager provided an overview of the assurance report on the work of the social work service. The key issues, successes and challenges in relation to areas including the Workforce Strategy, the Social Work workforce profile, staff turnover and vacancies, capacity and performance management and agency social workers were highlighted. Members’ attention was drawn to the Josh McCallister review into social care which reported in May 2022 and highlighted the pressure on practice and funding for children’s services in employing agency staff. A DfE announcement was awaited as a response to this review.

The Group Manager informed the Panel that he had been Principal Social Worker (PSW) since 2017 and was a member of the Executive leadership team. An important aspect of the role was that it provided a direct link between the front-line social workers and senior management. The PSW’s responsibilities included meeting with all frontline practitioners to allow them the opportunity to feedback on their experiences, providing input to the learning and development function and managing the social work health check process. Recent feedback from WCF staff has been very positive, with staff indicating that they felt listened to and supported in their work. The Panel was advised that WCF had recently secured 5th place nationally in the Standards for Employers of Social Workers awards, which was a significant achievement.

The Team Manager of the Positive Outcomes Project (POP) provided an overview of the POP which had been launched in September 2020 during, and despite the pandemic. POP ensured that students continued to be able to access placements offering a variety of learning opportunities with high expectations of standards of practice. The key focus of POP was to support the growth of the social work workforce in Worcestershire, but it also had the benefit of providing extra capacity to offer support with gaps in provision which arose during the pandemic with the withdrawal of early help support and advice services provided by partners and health. Students living or studying in the Worcestershire area were targeted for the project to encourage them to seek permanent jobs in the county. The Panel was informed that since POP was launched, 51 student social workers had been provided with a placement, with further details of their onward journey’s being included in the report. The majority of these students had provided positive feedback on their experience. On a final point, the Team Manager also highlighted that WCF obtained some revenue income from the project, with this year’s projected figure currently at £21,600.

The Social Work Academy Manager provided details of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme, which was a DfE funded programme, currently contracted by Skills for Care. The programme was designed to support newly qualified social workers in their probationary year to help them meet the required qualifying standards. The Social Work Academy worked closely with WCF to facilitate the programme and since 2017, a total of 116 NQSW had successfully passed the programme and been employed by WCF, and of those 87 were still currently in WCF employment.

Members were given the opportunity to raise questions and the following main points were made:

·       In response to a Members question about the methods of advertising placements, the Group Manager advised that currently there were two programmes for recruiting student social workers. Firstly, a national programme, ‘Step up to Social Work’ which provided government funded bursaries and applicants were sponsored by local authorities. The eighth cohort of students via this route was currently underway. Secondly the University of Warwick, Social Work apprentice scheme, which enabled WCF employees to be sponsored to train to be a social worker on a day release basis. Staff in certain front-line roles were targeted for this scheme. The Group Manager advised that two staff had qualified through this route, with a further 8 currently in the process. The Team Manager added that WCF was part of the West Midlands Teaching partnership and regular meetings were held with universities to promote the WCF offer. Members praised these initiatives.

·       The Chief Executive advised that job offers were only made to trainee social workers when they had completed their training and successfully interviewed at the end of the process.

·       The numbers of social workers leaving to convert to agency posts was raised and how these numbers might be reduced. The Chief Executive reported that this was a significant issue highlighted by the Care Review. WCF currently had 31 agency staff, which was a much-reduced figure from previous years. It was explained that there would always be a role for some agency staff to cover certain roles such as maternity leave and that these staff were well-known, and performance managed by WCF. Some agency staff showed no commitment to a local authority, and this created difficulties for children as it led to a lack of continuity for them. The Panel was reminded that a cap had been agreed by local authorities in the region, however, the significant financial impact resulting from the high agency costs continued to be a spiralling issue. The Chief Executive commented that this situation would be helped if there was a national approach on agency payment rates for social workers and levels of experience required for the role.

·       In providing explanation as to the variety of personal reasons why social workers had left their posts, such as mental health and bereavement, the Chief Executive also highlighted that post-covid some social workers had chosen to move from their highly pressurised front-line role into other teams within WCF such as fostering and adoption.

·       The Panel was informed that management stability was of key importance and that retention rates were currently exceptionally high for managers at 96% and 90% for all qualified staff. The CMR for Children and Families commented how crucial this was and that Ofsted regarded this as an important positive indicator.

·       The Chief Executive confirmed that bank staff were used for residential social worker roles, but not for the front-line social worker role. They were paid at the same rate as permanent staff, but they had flexibility as to working times.

·       The Chief Executive confirmed that agency staff benefitted from managerial support, guidance and mandatory training in the same way that permanent staff did. This was the best way to ensure the quality of the service to children was provided and was a practice that WCF had been commended for by Ofsted.

·       Further to the discussion on the impact of the agency rates of pay, the Panel was considering what action they could take to ensure attention continued to be focused on this matter. The Chief Executive advised that representations had already been submitted to the Care Review on this issue and that an announcement was awaited. The CMR and Leader of the Council had also written to the Chair of the Select Committee raising their concerns about this issue. The Chairman agreed that the Panel would await news of the announcement before any further action was determined.

The Chairman thanked the Officers for the comprehensive update. He asked that the Panel’s appreciation be conveyed to social workers for the excellent work they carried out in a very complex and challenging environment.