Social Work Recap: soaring vacancies, social care users left in debt and Shamima Begum

Social Work Recap is a weekly series where we present key news, events, conversations, tweets and campaigns around social work from the preceding week.

From the soaring vacancies in the children’s social work sector and Community Care’s Festival of Learning to a campaign busting the myths around social work, here’s this week’s selection:

Children’s social work vacancies soar to highest-ever levels

Photo: nadia_snopek/Adobe Stock

The Department for Education’s (DfE) annual workforce census, released on Thursday, revealed that children’s social work’s recruitment and retention problems were getting worse.

The figures showed that, as of September 2022, the numbers of vacancies and posts held by agency staff had reached record levels, average caseloads had risen and the number of social workers in post had fallen for the first time since 2017.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services urged the government to “move at pace” in tackling the issue, while the British Association of Social Workers England said the figures were “not a surprise” as practitioners’ working conditions had been “deteriorating year after year”.

You can find out more about the state of the workforce in our article.

Helping social care staff work with older LGBTQ+ people

Photo credit: Adobe Stock/ nadia_snopek

Skills for Care has published a new learning framework to help social care staff improve how they work with older LGBTQ+ adults.

Developed by Dr Trish Hafford-Letchfield, in collaboration with the LGBT Foundation, it will support social care services in considering LGBTQ+ issues when delivering care and support, and in staff recruitment, training, supervision and career progression.

Topics covered include inequalities faced by older LGBTQ+ people, sexuality and intimacy, ageing with HIV, use of language and challenging discrimination, oppression and violence.

You can access the framework here.

Councils urged to look beyond social work for future DCSs

Photo: Adobe Stock/ b11mdana

Councils in England have been warned that they risk missing out on talent by failing to look beyond social work for new directors of children’s services (DCSs)

Leadership development body the Staff College issued the warning after finding that, out of 116 current and recent directors surveyed for a study into reducing high DCS turnover, 64% had a social care background.

Directors interviewed for the study told the college, “you are seen as a risk if you are not from a social care background”.

You can learn more about what it takes to become a DCS in our article about the Staff College’s report.

Local authority social workers offered £1,925 pay rise

Photo: Adobe Stock/Nuthawut

Councils have offered social workers in England and Wales a £1,925 pay rise for 2023-24, similar to last year’s salary increase.

The proposed rise would apply to staff earning up to £49,950 in the majority of councils in England and Wales, while higher-paid staff would get a 3.88% boost, worth more than £1.925.

To learn more about the 2023-24 pay offer, check out our article.

Step Up to Social Work launched

Photo: adrian_ilie825/ AdobeStock

Applications are open for Step Up to Social Work, the DfE’s 14-month training programme for aspiring social workers, including career changers from other areas of children’s services.

Up to 700 successful applicants will train through a combination of study and practice experience in a local authority, and receive a bursary worth £19,833 to cover their living expenses. Most English councils will be delivering the scheme, which starts in January 2024.

To find out what the requirements are for applying, click here.

Social care learning – at a discount

Just one week to benefit from the Early Bird rate for #FoL23! Find out more and register at https://t.co/NJiv2ytHme pic.twitter.com/YJddjqfUg9

— Community Care (@CommunityCare) February 21, 2023

There are four days left to take advantage of our Festival of Learning’s early bird offer, which allows you to register for £28 (excluding VAT) per session.

Community Care’s annual virtual learning event, which takes place from 27-31 March , provides social workers and occupational therapists with the opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge through webinars delivered by sector experts.

This year’s sessions include, among others, building emotional resilience, understanding hoarding, anti-racist practice with social work students on placement, cultivating professional curiosity to identify children’s needs, and working with adults with executive functioning difficulties.

Find the full list of sessions here, and register by the 28 February to take advantage of our early bird discount!

BBC: 60,000 adults chased by councils over social care costs

Photo: AdobeStock/Prostock-studio

A BBC report has revealed that councils in England chased over 60,000 disabled adults for social care debts last year.

Claimants said they could no longer afford to meet charges for home care, which for some have risen by thousands of pounds a year, due to rising food and rent bills, and the additional costs of living with their impairments.

The BBC found that councils had taken legal action against 330 people in 2021-22, though the Local Government Association said this was done as a “last resort”.

You can read more about the impact of debts on people who need social care here.

Must watch: busting social work myths

Frontline’s new campaign, ‘This is the work’, attempts to tackle one of the causes of social work’s worsening recruitment and retention problems – public perception.

Following a survey that found nearly 60% of people  believed social workers had a negative reputation, the organisation aims to highlight “the positive power of social work” by tackling myths and misconceptions about the profession.

The first video of the series sees multiple social workers read and react to widespread opinions about social work, such as, ‘social workers are just pen pushers, they don’t care about people’.

Tweet of the Week

Shamima Begum is a British citizen who was a groomed and repeatedly sexually abused as a child. Every other single decision should flow from that premise. #ShamimaBegum

— Rob Mitchell (@RobMitch92) February 22, 2023

Social worker Rob Mitchell has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Shamima Begum’s battle to regain her UK citizenship, which suffered a setback this week when she lost an appeal against the decision.

He said that any decision about the now 23-year-old woman should take into consideration that she had been groomed and trafficked at the age of 15.

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