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Over four in ten social care professionals have taken a second job on financial grounds, an exclusive Community Care survey reveals today.

The email poll of almost 1,600 practitioners, half of whom said they were social workers or senior social workers, found almost 60% were considering leaving the profession due to their current pay levels, which 72% felt were not fair.

Twenty per cent of respondents earned less than £25,000 a year, while less than 10% earned over £40,000.

Thirty eight per cent said they were "always overdrawn" at the end of the month, while two-thirds had debts other than a mortgage, 55% of this group being over £6,000 in the red. The survey also revealed that two-thirds had considered and then rejected going on holiday over the past year on cost grounds.

With local government unions and employers in negotiations over pay rises for 2008-9 across the UK, two-thirds said council social workers deserved a rise of 5% or more, compared to a government public sector target of 2%.

However, a majority (51%) of respondents said staff should negotiate through unions if offered a sub-inflationary pay rise, with 27% saying they should take strike action and a further 11% saying they should threaten a walkouts.

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