Issue - meetings

A rapid review group was set up in November 2021 by the Children’s & Education

Select Committee to investigate the issues relating to the difficulties of recruiting

and retaining both trainee and qualified social workers. It was noted that this was

both a local and national issue and related to the demand for social worker

exceeding the available supply. In order to explore the issues relating to this

thoroughly, the rapid review group undertook research and interviewed senior

officers, social workers and their managers to explore areas that might be addressed

to ameliorate the situation at Buckinghamshire.

Cabinet was asked to consider the recommendations of the Children and Education Select Committee review of recruitment and retention of social workers.

RESOLVED –

(1) That the Select Committee and Review Group, as well as the supporting officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2) That Cabinet’s responses to the review, as set out and circulated to Members, be AGREED.

Note: a complete breakdown of the scrutiny recommendations and Cabinet’s responses can be found here.

Councillor M Dormer, Chairman of the Review Group, attended the meeting to present the findings and recommendations of the rapid review set up in November 2021 by the Children’s and Education Select Committee to investigate the issues relating to the difficulties of recruiting and retaining both trainee and qualified social workers.  This was both a local and national issue and related to the demand for social workers exceeding the available supply.  In order to explore the issues relating to this thoroughly, the rapid review group had undertaken research and interviewed senior officers, social workers and their managers to explore areas that might be addressed to ameliorate the situation at Buckinghamshire.

The recruitment and retention of social workers had been a key issue for local authority Children’s Services departments for over ten years and it had been well documented by various national organisations with statistics relating to the issue published annually by central government.  Through interviews and research the review group assessed such influencing factors as competition, pay and employment packages, agency versus permanent recruitment, development opportunities, welfare issues and quality of leadership.

From the early stages of the review the group decided that the focus should be on the child protection area of social work as there had been a 60% increase in child protection workloads since the Covid pandemic. Turnover rates of staff in child protection were particularly high and agency workers, although relied upon to fill team vacancies, created a substantial impact on the permanent staff when they left.

The group gained the views of social workers and officers which highlighted areas of need detailed in the recommendations, which included career progression, thorough support for social workers through supervision and good management, the need for a closely aligned HR function, and a review of IT and administrative support to encourage more streamlining of processes.  Appendix 1 provided further context to the Select Committee’s recommendations.

Councillor Dormer thanked the other councillors on the review group and all the officers who took part in the review.  In response to a question on whether the affordability of living in Buckinghamshire had an impact on recruitment, Councillor Dormer explained that this was raised, but that a number of social workers actually lived outside of Buckinghamshire and travelled in. He added that there were recommendations which would go towards meeting some of the additional costs of living in Buckinghamshire. With regards to exit interviews, Councillor Dormer confirmed that this should be two interviews; one with a team manager and one with HR.

Cabinet thanked the review group for their comprehensive report on such an important issue. The Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services then presented Cabinet’s draft response to the recommendations as set out and circulated to Members.  The Cabinet Member welcomed the well thought out recommendations and explained that the recommendations had been responded to with either a ‘yes’ or ‘in part’ and that they were either being implemented, would be implemented or had been implemented. 

In the discussion which followed,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7