Locum Social Workers Are Skilled Professionals Providing Vital Service to System Under Strain - REC

Responding to Community Care’s annual survey of Local Authority use of locum social workers and comments made to the BBC by the British Association of Social Workers that agency staff “put children’s lives at risk” the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) chief executive Kevin Green says:

 

“Agency social workers provide an important resource to protect and support the UK’s most vulnerable children and adults. They often have to pick up very difficult and complex cases very quickly. They are all professionally trained and agencies do a huge amount of vetting, which starts with ensuring social workers are registered with the Health and Social Care Professionals Council.

 

“It's important to note that local authorities are responsible for the provision of social workers and it's they alone that manage the resourcing activity of their departments. The social work profession has a severe shortage of qualified social workers. It's also important to understand that many people leave this work because of its very high levels of stress often made worse by how social workers are treated in high profile cases. 

 

“Local authorities should focus on creating supportive work environments and invest in high quality recruitment practices and training. Agency workers are keeping a system that’s under huge strain working for those that need it most.”

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

1.  “Spending on agency social workers has increased by a third” Community Care Friday 14^thNovember 2014
2. Bridget Robb, chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers, told BBC Breakfast this morning that using agency staff can’t guarantee consistency and “at its extreme it does put children’s lives at risk”.