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Haringey is widening the pay difference between social workers in children and family services and those working with adults, writes David Brown.

The move is part of a £3.5 million package announced by the council to recruit and retain staff by making them among the best paid in the country.

Newly qualified social workers in the children and family service will receive a £2,000 rise and team leaders will receive an extra £4,000.

The widening pay difference means that newly qualified staff working with children will earn £1,000 more than those working with adults and older people.

The difference will increase to more than £3,000 for those with two years post qualification experience and £5,000 for practice managers.

Haringey is also reintroducing the "senior practitioner" grade to encourage experienced staff to continue in practice rather than moving into management.

Difficulties in recruiting and retraining staff were identified by the Social Services Inspectorate as partially to blame for the failures in social services. The situation had worsened because of the inquiry in the death of Victoria Climbie.

A council spokesperson said: "We are very aware that there could be resentment from staff in adult services, and we will be working to see what we can offer those staff.

"Pay is just part of a package that we are offering staff which includes guaranteed study leave and development programmes."