Despite a number of government initiatives and increased recruitment advertising by local authorities, the vacancy rate in social services departments has actually increased, writes Amy Taylor.
Figures out from the Employers’ Organisation for local government show the average vacancy rate increased from 10.7 per cent in 2003 to 11.1 per cent in 2004.
The increase comes despite falls in vacancy rates for children’s social workers, from 11.8 per cent in 2003 to 11.4 per cent in 2004, and the survey mainly attributes the statistics to a shortage of care staff in residential settings.
Part of this trend is due to an increase in vacancies for care staff in children’s homes, which has gone up 2.2 per cent to 14.7. David Leah, a consultant working for the Children’s Workforce Development Council, says that the government’s Children’s Workforce Development Strategy, put out to consultation last April, did not devote enough attention to this group and that he hoped the final version would rectify this.
Stepping stone
However, he says that the strategy’s proposal for a single
qualifications framework, which aims to give the children’s
workforce greater flexibility in moving around the sector, should
help to improve the situation.
Other areas identified as contributing to the increase by the survey are increases in vacancy rates for care staff in older people’s homes, from 9.2 per cent to 12.3 per cent, and adults’ homes from 10 per cent to 14 per cent.
Leah says that people often use such roles as a stepping stone into other sorts of social care work but Ian Johnston, director of the British Association of Social Workers, argues that this benefit isn’t being promoted enough.
“More attention needs to be given to the fact that people want to start somewhere with the opportunity to progress,” he says.
| Ian Johnston |
Johnston is also critical of the children’s workforce strategy arguing that it fails to adequately address recruitment and retention.
Emotionally demanding
Over recent years local authorities have introduced packages
designed to get people into social work such as golden hellos,
protected caseloads and paying for people’s training. While
on the children’s social work front this seems to be paying
off it is unclear where it leaves positions that don’t
require such qualifications.
Johnston says that the figures reflect a lack of investment in recruitment for residential care positions and that this could be due to the focus on recruiting social workers.
These types of jobs are also traditionally low paid and physically and emotionally demanding which adds to the problem.
“You could probably earn more in you local supermarket than in an older people’s home,” said Rachel Childs, policy officer, community health and social care, at Help the Aged.
Step in the right direction
She agrees that there has been a drive towards increasing the
numbers of social workers and says that this profile raising now
needs to take place for other social care positions.
She says that the requirement for 50 per cent of care staff in older people’s homes to be on NVQ level 2 by 2005-6 is a step in the right direct but that a lot more needs to be done.
The publication of the Children Act 2004 and the Children’s Workforce Strategy had meant that children’s services were in the limelight but the adult social care green paper and the forthcoming white paper on health and social care has now changed this.
Childs says the documents represent a great opportunity to reform the adults’ social care workforce as has happening in the children’s sector.
While the difficulty in recruiting children’s social workers is far from over the situation is improving and now some of that energy needs to be diverted to other parts of the social care workforce to prevent another crisis developing.
Social services workforce analysis main report 2004 from: www.lg-employers.gov.uk
