Issue - meetings

The Panel received and noted the report of the Service Director Children and Families providing an overview of the significant difficulties the Local Authority had faced over the last few years in recruiting and retaining social workers.

Kim Drake, Service Director Children and Families was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.  The Panel noted that there were currently 58 agency social workers out of workforce of 170 social workers working with Children and Families and costed around £20-25k more than a permanent employee.

The Panel particularly noted that there had been historical issues and acknowledgement that policies had not been followed in relation to sickness.  As part of the transformation redesign of the service it was noted that the use of agency staff was a significant financial burden and recruitment and retention was key to developing new structures within Children and Families.  There was a need to develop a strong employment offer that was not restricted to just salaries but included caseloads, IT and working environment.  The Panel noted that staff morale and sickness presented a real challenge and required improved leadership and management which the transformation redesign proposals presented an opportunity to address.