Councils are filling a record number of children social worker vacancies following a 25% recruitment increase.
On the other hand, agency staff are falling out of use as the Department for Education (DfE) tries to implement restrictions. As a result, we have seen a slight fall in the vacancy rate of local authority children’s practitioners.
The DfE’s annual statistics on the children's social work workforce also indicates an improvement in the workforce situation since September 2022. During that time, the full-time equivalent (FTE) vacancy rate peaked at 20% after a year where the number of children's social workers declined for the first time since 2017.
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) permanent children's social workers, including registered managers, saw a significant increase of 4.7% (1,485 staff) to reach 33,119 in September 2023, marking the highest level ever recorded and the largest year-on-year growth.
This surge was primarily fueled by a notable 24.9% uptick in council recruitments compared to the previous year, with a record 6,028 FTE social workers joining new employers in 2022-23, up from 4,826 in 2021-22. Concurrently, the number of departures dropped from a record high of 5,421 in 2021-22 to 5,254 in 2022-23.
Despite the increase in recruitment, vacancies saw only a slight decrease from 7,913 to 7,723 FTE, resulting in a vacancy rate decline from 20% to 18.9%.
The use of agency staff continued to rise, reaching a new record of 7,174 FTEs in September 2023, up 6.1% from the previous year, with locums constituting 17.8% of the workforce, up from 17.6%.
These developments coincide with the Department for Education's forthcoming rules aimed at addressing the utilisation and expenses associated with agency staff in local authority children's services.
The rise in both permanent and agency staff numbers contributed to a decrease in the Department for Education's calculated average caseloads, dropping from 16.6 in September 2022 to 16.0 in September 2023. However, this measure has been criticised for underestimating social workers' caseloads, as it includes all registered practitioners, even those with relatively few cases.
While the increase in workforce size and the decline in vacancy numbers were welcomed, the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) cautioned that significant pressures persist in some local areas.
According to Rachael Wardell, chair of the ADCS's workforce policy committee, "Vacancy rates remain persistently high, and the rise in the number of agency social workers is a real cause for concern."
She emphasised the urgency of implementing measures proposed by the Department for Education to address the excessive costs associated with agency social workers. Additionally, Wardell reiterated the ADCS's longstanding call for a national social work recruitment campaign to highlight the profession's value and its lasting impact on children and families.
However, she stressed the necessity of retaining experienced staff through long-term national investment in services.
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