Social work vacancy rate falls

Efforts to train more social workers have resulted in a 3.4 per
cent fall in the vacancy rate, the latest report from the Social
Care and Health Workforce Group has shown, writes
Natasha Salari.

The average vacancy rate fell from 9.4 per cent to 6 per cent
between 2001 and 2002, including a fall in children’s social
worker vacancies from 11.3 per cent to 9.2 per cent.

But short-term solutions are still being used by many, with
councils spending £114 million on long-term agency work in
2002 compared to £74 million in 2001.

Councils have also invested more in social work qualifying
training: £11 million in 2001 to 2002 compared to £4
million in 2000 to 2001.

Report here