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Employment agencies are calling on the government to help councils with the initial costs of settling in social workers from overseas.

Several NHS trusts work with recruitment agencies to arrange accommodation for nurses from the Philippines and parts of Africa and then deduct rent from their salaries once they have started work. 

Local authorities have already brought in staff from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and India.  But some argue there is an untapped source of staff in other parts of the developing world. 

Lawrence Perry, who runs Dolma International Placement Corporation, said there were thousands of trained social workers in the Philippines who could be recruited, but there had been little interest from councils or agencies because of the difficulty in finding them affordable accommodation. 

But Philip Poole, a director of international agency Synergy Recruitment, said the red tape involved in recruiting from the Philippines was a hindrance. Workers from that country need a job offer before they can obtain a visa, whereas those from Commonwealth countries can enter on a two-year working visa.

However, there have been complaints from developing countries that their trained professionals are being lured away. In 2001, at Community Care LIVE Dr Zola Skweyiya, South Africa's minister for social development complained about the poaching of South African social workers in the UK when they are needed in their own country. Last year, the Filipino Ambassador in the UK said that the NHS was recruiting the country's best nurses; nearly 25,000 Filipino nurses work in the NHS.