Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council Item 8

Children and Young People Select Committee

8 October, 2008

Recruitment of Field Social Workers

Report of the Director of Children's Services

Contact: [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 This report identifies the position at the end of August 2008 in relation to the recruitment and retention of social workers within the Children and Families Branch of Hampshire County Council Children's Department.

1.2 The Joint Area Review in 2007 recommend that Children's Services seek to recruit to vacant social work posts in order to improve services to children and families within Hampshire. This recommendation was based on comments given to the review team given by Team Managers who confirmed they had vacancies based on their total establishment.

1.3 As part of the Joint Area Review report and subsequent updates to the lead member for Children's Services Select Committee the Children and Families Branch has been asked to provide a further update on the recruitment of social workers. The data contained within this report excludes information on Family Placement Social Workers, Behaviour Support Social Workers and CAMHS social work posts. Recruitment to these specialist posts was not an area of concern for the Joint Area Review.

2. Context

2.1 The establishment figure in place at the time of the Joint Area Review was based on historic decisions regarding service delivery and resources. Each team and area operated within the constraints of a cash limited budget that was estimated to be 13% year on year below the level required to fund the full notional staffing establishment.

2.2 Nationally social work posts have been difficult to fill and for this reason the Department for Children, Schools and Families have launched a campaign to assist recruitment to the social work profession with particular emphasis on supporting newly qualified practitioners in the field. Local Authorities in 2005 and 2006 reported vacancy rates averaging at 10%. Hampshire reported a vacancy rate of 10.4% in 2006/07, and this figure increased significantly during the summer of 2007.

2.3 As a result of the position within Hampshire and further commented upon by the Joint Area Review team the Children and Families Branch set out a plan to improve recruitment which was implemented in October 2007.

3. The Recruitment and Retention Plan

3.1 Previously individual areas separately recruited for their part of the service, which meant that some areas were competing to recruit the same individuals. It also meant some appointable applicants were not offered the opportunity to be placed elsewhere in the County if they were not the first choice candidate for the specific vacancy. This led to a decision to create a County panel which is able to bring consistency to the recruitment process and maximise the potential of all appointable applicants. Periodically we also target particular areas or specialisms as required.

3.2 We have worked in partnership with our colleagues in Human Resources and developed a rolling programme of recruitment which is planned in advance. This allows a quicker turnaround of applicants so that the process is quicker and there is less chance of us losing applicants to neighbouring authorities.

3.3 We have worked with a recruitment agency and have developed improved advertising that incorporates the advantages of living and working in Hampshire whilst recognising the challenges for our service provision to the children and families within Hampshire.

3.4 We are currently in the process of developing a policy of enabling transfers of staff across Districts and Areas without the need for an interview. This will enable staff to develop professionally and also prevent some experienced staff leaving the authority to join an authority nearer their home base. Staff have welcomed this development.

3.5 Alongside this plan to improve recruitment and retention we are in the process of remodelling our services to enable a focus on children in need and children in care separately. This is a development again welcomed by staff and should aid retention. The remodelling of the service will provide the Branch with an establishment that is clear and affordable.

3.6 The new pay framework, implemented in April 2008 significantly improved the starting pay for qualified social workers and this has positioned us well in the market place.

4. Outcome of the Recruitment and Retention Plan

4.1 Analysis of the outcome of the plan covers the period 1^st October 2007 when the plan was implemented to 31^st August 2008.

4.2 The key elements of the plan outlined above have now been implemented and recruitment from August 2008 is now aligned to the proposed new structure that is due to be fully implemented by 1^st April 2009.

4.3 Focussing on available staffing figures for social workers for the period of this report we can confirm that 21 staff have left the Department whilst 42 staff have been recruited and are in post. This is a net increase of 21 social workers over the 10 month period and shows an early positive outcome of the plan.

4.4 The detail behind these figures are outlined as follows;

4.5 The District location of vacancies based on the revised structure for social workers are as follows;

Western Area: 3.42 FTE (Test Valley 2.42, Eastleigh 1)

South East Area: No vacancies

North & East Area 7.3 FTE (Basingstoke 3.5, Rushmoor 3.8)

Area Adoption Service: No vacancies

County Adoption Team: 1 FTE

5. Conclusion

5.1 Based on the work undertaken by the Children and Families Branch, we now have a clear ,affordable social work establishment in place.

5.2 The newly implemented recruitment and retention strategy shows early signs of positive outcomes however, this will be closely scrutinised by the Children and Families Management Team, especially over a period of structural change.

5.3 An affordable establishment based on the re-modelling exercise is now in place and this will enable the Division to more clearly target recruitment based on need.

5.4 Based on the revised structure we can confirm that the social work vacancy rate in summer 2007 when the Joint Area Review team were in Hampshire has now been reduced from 32.72 to 11.72 full time equivalent posts. Using the revised structure that has been set and is affordable, this would equate to a 6.86% vacancy rate.

84R200908