Children's social work is local government's biggest recruitment and retention headache. So, as the trade body for councils, the Local Government Association has today announced plans to tackle it.
Top of the list of initiatives is luring back 5,000 practitioners who have retired over the past ten years back into the profession to fill current gaps.
This makes sense - the retirement rate for children's social workers has risen in recent years and the biggest recruitment and retention problems lie with experienced staff.
However, as Unison points out, many retired child social workers will have been happy to get out of the profession. And, as ADCS warns, much has staged in policy and practice over the past ten years - Every Child Matters most notably - so councils will have to invest in getting people up to speed with all of this change.
Anyone fancy it?
While I can see the arguments for this, and they do make sense, I wonder what effect this will have on newly qualified social workers, wishing to start a career in children protection. If all the vacancies are filled by recently retired staff, then newly qualified staff will find it impossible to break into the area (and it seems to be hard enough to do all ready). The effect will then be, that when these staff retire again, there will be no new blood waiting to take over the reigns and another recruitment and staffing crisis.
I do think therefore, that if councils do recruit recently retired staff again, there should also be a requirement that they also create some 'training' posts for newly qualified workers- if teams are fully staffed, there should be the time and ability to provide the extra support, training and supervision that newly qualified workers will need, which seems to be the main argument against this now.
Well in theory it is a good idea, however without incentives I cannot see a great uptake. A number of social workers who have retired from LG have gone to be employed as Agency Staff where they can receive a better standard of pay. This in my view needs to be sorted out not only to lure retired social workers, but also recruit new social workers, and retain the staff.
I am approaching retirement this October. I manage a team of social workers at the front line of Child Protection. The panic and disarray that has happened in the last few months have stretched my team to the enth degree. Other agencies are now no longer wanting to take on the responsibility of working with children who they perceive should have a service from Childrens Social Care.
If they want me to stay beyond October, they are going to have to come up with not just pay, but overall satisfaction with the work. The amount of work that front line managers are now being asked to complete is increasing on a daily basis On top of the day job of supervising staff and managing risk, I am now an administrator (targets and managing them) ; complaints handler and Human Resouces worker.
Sorry to whinge..........just feel that nobody including the government have any idea how to sort this out.
Well said 'SCM' - having seen the Profession reduced to its current level of crisis how dare Ed Balls refer to us as 'unsung heros'? - some way to have treated heros!
The impact of ICS (Integrated Children's System) has reduced us to computer inputting data clerks rather than engaging with children and young people and their families. With Haringey daring to say that it will be little short of brilliant by 2012 how can it take 2 high profile child deaths and a further 3 YEARS for them to put in place what ought to have been there already - high quality Supervision; 'reflective practive'; balanced caseloads, proper IT etc? It is an absolute insult and a damning indictment on the state that Local Authority social work has been allowed to decend into - in other words those deaths were largely avoidable.
Who is accountable? Well it has to start with Central Government and include CSCI/OFSTED as its main Inspection 'arm' who rarely, if ever, conducted unannounced inspections despite calls for such over many years. There has been an over-reliance on hitting PI's (performance Indicators) regardless of quality - remember Sharon Shoesmith waving Haringey's quite impressive results in that area?
Many social workers recently retired or nearing retirement are glad to getting out of what we see as our beloved Profession being sytematically destroyed. More and more senior managers receiving higher and higher levels of pay (and often withour even a basic social work quallification) have introduced 'macho' management techniques and destroyed the 'soul' of social work.
We need urgently to retain those many more experienced and committed workers and use them to take social work forward - how many Local Authorities have mentoring posts? How many Local Authorities are 'dealing with' managers who are not up to the job? Where is the evidence that Lord Laming called for going right back to how Cases are allocated and the workers supported? Where is the evidence to 'challenging' Supervision? When did your Team Manager / Service Manager / Principal Officer ever either do a joint visit with you or have any dealings with a Service User in any capacity?
Unless and until we re-visit what social work is all about, unless and until we have adquate IT technologies in place (and not the current multiplicity of different databases in Health and Social Care; the Police, Education, Early Years, OFSTED etc. which do not 'talk' to each other) and unless and until we train and adequately support a workforce that is 'fit for purpose' can we ever hope to restore Social Work and Social Care to what it ought to be.
It is far far more than seeking to tempt back those who have already left - and many would not have left had they been properly looked after and supported in the first place.
Rarely have I been so angry that Central Government seems utterly unaware and / or unresponsive to what needs to be put right.
I feel so strongly about the current state of social work that I could barely put it into words this morning. I consider myself to be a good practioner when I practiced social work. My current team is full of newly qualified social workers, and hardly any experienced social workers. I have worked in this field for 20 years now, and if anything the profession has gone backwards.
Thank you for putting into words; I was just too emotional to think clearly. I keep reading these daily headlines, and thinking that it all sounds good on paper, but it lacks detail. Do they actually think if the clarion call goes out to all retired social workers, they will all pick up their diary and keys and run towards their nearest LG; their lack of naivity is mind blowing.
These are families lives we are playing with here. Children's lives. No amount of targets can safegaurd children. 7&35 days Assessment doesn't tell you the quality of the assessment, it just tells you it was completed within those times. When I orginally investigated why these particular targets had been set, and what research had been involved, I came up with absolutely nothing. Some jobsworth at in Whitehall had decided that it was a good way of measuring social work. Our particular brand of ICS Liquid Logic has been set up exactly like the government decided. However, it does not resemble social work as we know it. Apparently when completing a Section 47, we are supposed to have a computor at our finger tips to type in what we are saying and to whom at exactly the time that we are doing it; you can't backdate apprently. You also can't accomodate a child at the same time as ongoing Section 47, the system goes awol. I could go on an on.
We need good leadership at every single level from the Government downwards. We need massive investment into training, staffing levels, and resources, including making sure the correct admin is in place. I now have very expensive trained social workers, typing for 80% of their time, how efficient is that?
I retired some 8 years ago, after 10 years or more as a manager in front line children's services, in the main Child Protection. On the afternoon of my goodbye party I was offered employment as an Independent SW and have enjoyed a variety of work including chairing Fostering Panels, acting as expert witness in Care Proceedings, and chairing children's LAC reviews, which I really enjoy. I now have the time to provide quality and thorough preparation for the work I do with the children, and I cannot emphasise how rewarding this is (especially compared with often working until 10pm and some Sundays to complete the mountain load in my in-tray!) It is however quite tricky ensuring that you gain sufficient top-up training to re-register every 3 years. This doesn't seem to have been considered by Ed Balls & Co and I can foresee difficulties (and expense) for those who have retired to be in a position to access and complete the necessary updates.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha sorry but well!!!
It's hard I know ...but you have to try.....go on
A really positive, well-thought out and deeply considered response 'justme' !!! - is that really the best you could do? The issues are rather more serious than your trivial response merits.
I heartily agree with the points made about the way that "initiatives" such as ICS, and KPI's imposed by central government have impacted so negatively on our profession. In my view they demonstrate a gross over simplification of the nature and complexity of what Child Protection work is all about. Do they really think that analysis, evaluation and management of risk ( I'm using this quaint old fashioned term for the modern and politically correct terminology - "needs") and protection of vulnerable chidren is as easy as asking a stream of pre-set questions in an endless quest for information?
The disastrous imposition of ICS has only added to the growing burden of administrative work that is preventing social workers from spending time with children and families, de-skilled managers and practitioner and robbed the profession of any job satisfaction. Why are the government now needing to look for means of addressing the growing recruitment and vacancy crisis in Child Protection work? I suggest that it is a consequence of their own policies and arrogance and they could make a start in addressing this by listening to those of us who work in this area and and re-addressing their own flawed strategies rather than conduct witch hunts. Their response to the effects of appalling risk taking in the financial and banking sector - bailing out with massive amounts of public money and allowing obscene reward sums for spectacular failure by senior managers is in stark contrast to the sacking with no compensation for mistakes made in Child Protection cases.
It seems to me that there is a fundamental misconception in the way that KPI's have been designed that is based on a naive belief that it is possible to superimpose a measurement model based on quantity and time rather than analysis and considered professional. this may be appropriate in a business environment but is inherently unsafe when it comes to dealing with the multiplicity of factors that need to be considered in a Child Protection context. Local Autority Children's Services Departments seem therefore to be preoccupied with meeting those one dimensional targets, chasing star ratings, inventing spin and policing procedures rather than listening to the views of experienced practitioners and managers (no matter how soundly evidenced).
After 30 years in Child Protection work I feel in a state of utter frustration and despair and deeply saddened by the state of our profession and the virtually impossible task of providing a quality service to vulnerable children and their families.
Well, its funny, desperate times calls for despaerate measures. I dont have anything against retired social workers and their ability to carry out their jobs should they return to the profession, however, with the changes that have taken place in recent years with new legislations, policies and departmental porcedures i truly dont see this materialising anytime soon. Furthermore as a newly qualified SW who have worked with some of the older trained generation of SWs who were trained to carry out a mandate that was suited at an earlier time i find some of their practice questionable and sometimes even "bullyish" and overwhelming abuse of power. Well, who am i to question the wisdom of bureaucrats who some of them have never read the Guardian on a wednesday and have never spoken directly to a field social worker to find out their.
I agree with everything you have said. However, it is doubtful that words of wisdom penetrate the powers that be. Your comparison to the Bankers is a point well made. That kind of money had been invested into Families and Children, it would transform the service. They are making decisions about money and investment, we are just making decisions about children's lives. It speaks volumns about where our country is doesn't it.
Rupert, I think Justme was simply laughing at the thought of returning to CP work in an LA??? Not the previous responses, or flippantly.
In light of the previous responses, I apologise for the seemingly selfish and superficial attitude of my previous post in this thread. As a student who has never worked in CP, nor wants to, I obviously am not personally familiar with all the ins and outs of LA procedural workings in the area etc... After mulling over the report throughout the day, I had come to the conclusion that it would be better if the LGA concentrated on changing the issues that had caused people to retire early or leave due to burn out of frustration, and until they do, people are unlikley to want to returrn anyway, and it won't solve what are the real issues... which is basically what you have all written in the meantime anyway.
I am laughing because when I tried over a period all over the country for a year in 1999/ 2000 to find a refresher course having never been out of social work just doing a different variety there weren't any
And as far as I know there aren't any still.
I tried twice in 2003/4 to do my PQ1 and couldn't do/ write what they wanted me to write. They wanted me to ignore from 1982-2003 and everything that I had learnt then.
And yet since I have been doing social work at Wolgarston High school [ since 2006] I have found a breath of fresh air with such possibilities and realities to do real social work
Fantastic support and such a belief in me that i just could never contemplate going back to area social work
That's why I laugh
out of sheer frustration for all remaining area social worker who I think should come and join me.
Can't wait for my letter asking me to come back out of retirement, but I won't be holding my breath either !!!
Tell you what, Mithran, if they pay me to be a Senior Practitioner (which is what I am any way you slice it) I'll be in like Flinn. Except that I am so busy doing voluntary work I would only be available evenings and weekends. It's a funny Old world.
Hello all
I work with a social worker who retired and is back as an Independant social worker. She is a very nice person and is a traditional social worker, in as much as she tells me about the times they used to take the families on Holiday's on the Minibus!
The thing is she does no ICS, hand writes her notes and takes no crap. We have a newly qualified social worker who for the 1st time this week got shouted at, this was difficult to hear, but welcome to our world.She can work ICS.
Its a disgrace to ask retired social workers to "come back"- please dont think that this is due to people being over retirement age its the fact that maybe after x amount of years have they not given enough allready?? Clearly if someone wants to come back then great, grab a computer and forget about taking people out in the minibus!!
You will have the pleasure of typing rubbish that you are to embarassed to send out to a client as an "assessment"- you may never have been able to get a 1st at Uni but you know you could have something ok to say, these days you will write a load of clap trap- its a conveyor belt, why spend time writing stuff when the "kids are safe" and you have a pile in the draw that is not and more on the phone.Well come to my world....
Silly children's centres that chat rubbish about "Baby Massage"- for god sake supervise a contact, show mom/ dad how to feed a child.have I filled in the referal form........... welcome to my world
Schools that to their credit try hard with CAF'S that when they dont work they telephone Social Work Departments to be told that "does not meet our criteria!"
Fancy clients not doing what Schools have told them too?All these CAF'S impact upon the relastionship, something to be preserved.
Courts that ask "do you really need an EPO?"- well Ive got nothing else to do so we thought we would come to Court to have a grilling because I have got nothing else to do- lunch would be good. A battered baby or two, yes cause I am acting over the top to snatch those Babies ( see the Daily Mail) or I left the child ( see the Sun).Welcome to my world
Yes if you over 60 and retired and want to come back to this then please apply- when is the cabinet reshuffle isnt it about that Ed Balls was put in charge of the Home Office or something, leave "the department for children" alone, give us another one who just does not get it. After all we are the "unsung heros, here's a song " I will survive" Gloria Gaynor.......... on a good day
or Rage against the machine- "F*** you I wont do as you tell me"- on the way home most days ( its on Utube if you dont know the song)
Welcome to my world
Don't kid yourself, could do it with my eyes closed. Ever heard of SSID, when I nearly hurled the computer out of the window and probably would have done this time too with ICS. Am as up to date as you on all the current legislation and computer literate. Do you think cos I'm nearly 60 I don't keep up to date ? I welcome young and old into the profession and defy you to work alongside me to see whether I've still got what it takes !!! Whether I''d ever go back ? Well that rather depends. Please don't make sweeping statements, unless you can back them up.
Well said Mary!!! Another thing we 'old timers' don't tend to do is make 'sweeping statements' - unless it's about smoking of course!!!!
I dont think I have made "sweeping statements" I am merely stating that the job is different and the "older" social workers MAY find it more challenging- ICS ETC In thE Authority where I work there is a sw who is 80 still working and she is a star! and as for any suggestion of being ageist my 62 year old husband thinks this is funny after all I am being his 38 year old wife. 15 years on they said we would never last!
Age is a Number.
Julie
Interesting word, 'lure'. A tad loaded, maybe? Conjures up 'entrapment', 'ambush', 'deception' to me.... which I guess gives a clue to the writers feelings about the plan.
I have to agree with him / her. Having been caught once and escaped, why would any retired social worker from Children and Families want a second dose?
The idea is bizarre. And yet, somehow, disarmingly quaint in it's naivety.
Bless.
AlG
Julie: In thE Authority where I work there is a sw who is 80 still working and she is a star!
In thE Authority where I work there is a sw who is 80 still working and she is a star!
Blimey! I take my hat off to her! What does she do?
Not sure about trying to lure back retired social workers, a colleague of mine is in her 50's and she says that she wouldn't come into social work now, it's all about government targets, paperwork, quantity rather than quality, and not the old way of social work that she used to love, she can't wait to retire
just a bit of an aside, but why is the focus specifically on retired SW's?
There are thousands who have left the profession in recent years because of the unworkable nature of current front line social work. Until recently i worked for a LA, but i left because of the blame culture, and the aftermath of baby p, plus a child death of the team i worked in i had enough. If they got shot of ICS, i would probably consider a return, that and desolving some of the beauracracy (i can never spell that) and i am sure there would be thousands more willing to return to the job...
I have stated elsewhere that two workers should be involved in ongoing CP work. This would seem the answer to stepping up.
Give me a worker skilled in appropriate intervention rather than an expert on policies/targets/Nat Stans/KRAs/typing/ECM/ and power dressing. These things have their place but not on the top table.
I can't imagine many retired (and early leavers) social workers wanting to return to front line work. The job in the LA has changed too much, the priorities aren't the same any more, targets are the priority not the families and that just isn't the social work that many trained to do. The culture is abrasive and stressive and I know many who would not want to return to that environment. Real social work, yes, but not what it has become.
I agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by aitch. However I then ask myself why do we write on these forums. Is it to show we are "more caring than thou" or in the upper intelligence bracket or is it cathartic.
I suspect most fit in to one or other of these categories and I probably have left some out. How far do we have to go to get to something that promotes action. I have been sending e mails to Ed Balls inviting him to look at these forums and save himself the time and money, engaging think tanks and Lord Laming to come up with a vision for the future.
Social work has changed, so has the world. The dcfs have established a Social Work Taskforce to undertake a nuts and bolts review of frontline SW practice. Sounds good but who are these people in the taskforce? are they the contributers to this forum? My guess is they have brains as big as car parks but have not travelled the road to to get to park.
Have they representatives of the long dead previous generation of social workers among them or does the baby once again have to get thrown out with the bathwater?
Caring profession? must include the workforce not just the recipients of their well intentioned efforts.
Shirack: I agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by aitch. However I then ask myself why do we write on these forums. Is it to show we are "more caring than thou" or in the upper intelligence bracket or is it cathartic. I suspect most fit in to one or other of these categories and I probably have left some out. How far do we have to go to get to something that promotes action. I have been sending e mails to Ed Balls inviting him to look at these forums and save himself the time and money, engaging think tanks and Lord Laming to come up with a vision for the future. Social work has changed, so has the world. The dcfs have established a Social Work Taskforce to undertake a nuts and bolts review of frontline SW practice. Sounds good but who are these people in the taskforce? are they the contributers to this forum? My guess is they have brains as big as car parks but have not travelled the road to to get to park. Have they representatives of the long dead previous generation of social workers among them or does the baby once again have to get thrown out with the bathwater? Caring profession? must include the workforce not just the recipients of their well intentioned efforts.
Dare I ask if he has replied to your emails?
I'd love to sit down with him and have a chat about the REAL problems that social workers face on a daily basis, so Ed if you do happen to be reading this then do get in touch
Shirack: I have been sending e mails to Ed Balls inviting him to look at these forums and save himself the time and money, engaging think tanks and Lord Laming to come up with a vision for the future.
I have been sending e mails to Ed Balls inviting him to look at these forums and save himself the time and money, engaging think tanks and Lord Laming to come up with a vision for the future.
He should ready Community Care too - feel sorry for the CC journalists who are working hard to get a news message across but are up against a certain 'red top' who have a representative on the task force!!
Shirack: My guess is they have brains as big as car parks but have not travelled the road to to get to park.
My guess is they have brains as big as car parks but have not travelled the road to to get to park.
Love this phrase. Must find a way of using it somewhere!
Yes JT I have had replies. At first they were patronising and reminded me of a politician being interviewed on the "Today" programme; you know the sort, "What a wonderful job we are all doing" (bit like young Mr. Grace for those old enough to remember "Are you being served"). Then they went on about right minded people. (whoever they are)
I kept up the broken record bit about two workers working identified high risk CP cases and slowly the replies at least became more adult. However just like the today presenters I am still waiting for a direct answer. We live in hope.
Thanks, justme will let you know if get a reply.
I'm a children's social worker (have been for about 13 years) and practice teacher with an MA in social work, in the next couple of months I am planning to leave frontline social work with children. I work with a great team. Why do I want to leave? I'm fed up with spending most of my time on a computer on a non-functioning system. Any visits to children seem rushed. Building a relationship with them? A joke.I don't want more pay - I just want to be a social worker not a data clerk.