Children 'at risk' as social worker posts remain unfilled

Children are being put at risk as 11% of posts for permanent children's social workers remain unfilled, experts have warned.

The vacancy rates vary significantly around the county, with one local authority struggling at 45%.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW), the largest professional association for social work in the UK, warned that gaps in the service can "up the ante" for vulnerable children.

The College of Social Work (TCSW), said many employees have found the role untenable in the wake of "social work bashing" by politicians, the public and parts of the media in the wake of a number of high-profile child abuse scandals in towns and cities including Rochdale, Oxford, Rotherham and Bristol.

Waltham Forest in north east London has a 45% vacancy rate, according to its most recent data, while Rochdale has 28%.

Some 34% of children's social worker posts are not filled by permanent staff in Bournemouth, and Peterborough City Council's figure is 23%.

Data from Coventry City Council showed a vacancy rate of 27%, while Sutton in south-west London has 37%.

The figures were obtained using Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association.

BASW professional officer Nushra Mansuri said: "It will up the ante. Risk is risk - we are talking about children who largely are at risk - and the system can make that riskier if people haven't got enough capacity to do that work rigorously and thoroughly," she said.

Annie Hudson, TCSW chief executive, said: "I know of at least two authorities where they maybe had about 10% agency staff and then they have an Ofsted (report) which puts them into the equivalent of special measures and their use of agency staff goes rocketing because it can be a very demoralising environment in which to work.

"People exit and maybe go to places that are going to be less difficult. It's a difficult job, an uneasy public profile at best, and not having a real sense of how they will develop in their professional careers over time.

"I think those three factors mean we sometimes don't keep people in that we would really want to."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "Nothing is more important than keeping children safe. This is why we are overhauling social work and ensuring social workers are given the best support possible.

"We have recently announced a new career pathway to keep our dedicated professionals working in frontline practice, and since 2010, have invested more than £400 million in bursaries and training programmes to attract the very best candidates to the profession.

"This includes new fast track training programmes - which are now attracting as many as 20 applicants for every place and will give bright graduates and career changers the opportunity to become social workers within two years, supported by experienced social workers and leading universities."