Isn’t it time you got to work your way? Introducing the Casual Social Worker Bank

The world of work has changed and it’s time social work caught up.

More and more people want work to flex around their lives. They want work without fixed hours. Work they can access when it suits them. The reasons are many. Work-life balance. Career breaks. Family commitments. Extra income during retirement.

Whatever the reason, people increasingly want more flexible working lives. But until now children and adults’ social workers haven’t had that choice.

It’s time social work caught up and at West Sussex County Council we’re leading the way.

Social work with flexibility

This month we are launching our Casual Social Worker Bank.

We have no intention of replacing our permanent staff with casual ones, but rather it’s a new offer for social workers and occupational therapists who want more control over their working hours.

As a part of our Casual Social Worker Bank you can be offered work providing ad-hoc support to our social work teams.

It’s work that you are free to accept or reject because the Casual Social Worker Bank lets you work your way. Paid work with total flexibility.

A different approach

But this is no transplant from the ‘gig economy’. The Casual Social Worker Bank is modelled on the NHS equivalent, which has been giving healthcare workers the work flexibility long denied to social workers for over a decade.

“This is an initiative that the council has launched and one which will benefit both adults’ and children’s services, supplementing and extending our existing workforce,” says Kim Curry, executive director for children’s, adults, families, health and education at West Sussex County Council.

“It’s important that we think about different approaches to recruiting and importantly, retaining staff and that we have the right people in the right place to support children, adults and families across West Sussex.”

That choice is long overdue but now it’s here.

Work your way

It will mean children, families and adults in West Sussex don’t go without support. It will mean social workers who need or want a more adaptable work life have a choice. And it will mean that the profession no longer needs to wave goodbye to those for whom permanent roles are unworkable.

Isn’t it time you got to work your way?

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