News

On 12 June in Manchester, delegates from 21 local authorities, staff agencies and voluntary organisations in the North West gather for the third successive  year to provide help and information for people considering a career in social care.

The North West Social Care Event – Socnow – expects more than the 300 people who turned up last year. For the first time pre-registration has indicated a high level of interest. In addition, a mail shot of about 5,000 DipSw students is expected to entice some of the next generation of social workers to Manchester.

The North West faces recruitment problems that are common with the rest of the country.

At root there is a major issue with the supply of social workers and other social care staff. Last year Caroline Marsh, deputy director of social services in Manchester and head of the steering committee for the event, noted that poaching of employees from other local authorities was a symptom of the lack of suitably qualified candidates.

On the eve of this year’s event Marsh told Recruitment Talk that “if anything the problem of the supply of social workers to the area is worse than last year.”

The various initiatives to train more social workers has not yet brought dividends in terms of enlarging the pool of potential employees, she feels. And the existing vacant posts in many councils – especially in children and families work – means a shortage of staff to supervise students on placements. “This creates a vicious circle”, Marsh says, “since employing students who train with you is a good way to fill vacancies."

This year Socnow is to concentrate on attracting social workers to the region; last year’s approach was broader and aimed equally at trying to address the shortage of other social care staff. But Marsh feels that social workers are a more mobile labour force and will be prepared to move to the North West under the right conditions, whereas other staff are more likely to be recruited locally, tempted out of other jobs into a social care career.

The organisations behind Socnow prefer to work as a team promoting the virtues of the region, trying to import social workers into the North West rather than competing with each other for a limited pool of workers.

Of course, the North West is a region with many differences and even here jobs advertised to fill difficult vacancies have to offer better starting pay scales. Some prefer to address this – like Blackpool – with higher than average starting pay.

Others prefer to sell themselves on the basis of less stressful caseload and better living environment.

Workshops include  “Getting Over the Recruitment Hurdle” which offers advice on getting the job; "Work Life Balance", which aims to enable employees to achieve a better balance between work and their lives outside work; and “A Day in the Life of a Social Worker”, where social work staff will present a scenario of typical cases that comes before a Children’s and Adult team.

More information on Socnow at www.test.rileyextranet.co.uk/SOCNOW2002/event.htm.  It is supported by Community Care.