The Big Listen was carried out by London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA) in collaboration with the South East Sector Led Improvement Programme (SESLIP) to improve understanding of children’s social workers’ views and priorities to help local authorities and Directors of Children’s Services address the situation, including reducing competition over children’s social worker recruitment and improving retention rates.
Two regions working collaboratively
We didn’t appreciate until we started this collaborative research that together London and the South East regions employ over one third (12,700) of the 31,600 children’s social workers employed by local authorities across England. We were fortunate enough to hear from over 1,000 of them (1,150 to be precise!) in 52 participating authorities in our collective regions as part of this research, which involved a survey and a series of focus groups.
Aside from a tremendous response, carrying out the research collaboratively across two regions has undoubtedly brought many benefits and presents a good model for future cooperation.
What we heard
Although the findings largely chime with everything we already know (or suspect) is affecting the experience of children’s social workers, and subsequent recruitment and retention challenges, we have been able to extract new evidence in more granularity (and volume!) than we feel has been available elsewhere.
Hearing directly from such a large group makes the findings both more poignant and hopeful!
The positives we must build on:
- Over 1,000 responses (8% of the social work workforce across both regions) gives a solid base of evidence to help understanding and responses at local, regional and national levels.
- Our research approach has been inclusive to capture views from the whole workforce including local authority employed staff and managers, agency workers, Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs), students and apprentices. The ability to differentiate responses in this way is unique and allows for more in depth and targeted response to support workforce strategies.
- Throughout this research, children’s social workers have told us that they are ‘proud to be children’s social workers’; they are extremely passionate about their career choice, their role in the community and are motivated to make a difference for children and families.
- Encouragingly, most respondents thought they could make a difference to children and young people’s lives in their roles, with 88% (almost 900 people) agreeing or strongly agreeing that they can.
- We also asked if staff felt valued, again the response was broadly positive with 66% either agreeing or strongly agreeing.
The key messages we must respond to:
- Many of the people who took part in our research voiced concerns about perceptions of the social work profession. For some this extended to their family and loved ones being concerned about their choice of career.
- Almost 40% of the children’s social care workforce said that they find their workload unmanageable.
- Black and Global Majority social workers have a differential experience to their white counterparts. Throughout focus groups and the survey, we heard examples of the impact of racism and discrimination and how it often makes the difficulties and challenges they face worse. Local authorities are fundamentally at higher risk of losing Black and Global Majority social workers to the agency market.
- We also asked all local authority employed social workers their views about agency work; this presents a concerning picture where 20% stated that they intend to work for an agency in the future.
- Children’s social workers we have spoken to are not generally questioning their career choice, but the system they work in. There are many complex contributing factors at local, regional and national levels that interfere with their ability to do their jobs effectively which impacts on their enjoyment of the role and the capacity to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
A shared responsibility
Whilst workforce challenges are longstanding and persistent over many years, it really feels like we have reached a ‘now or never’ situation, for which a united approach seems more essential than ever in addressing this shared challenge.
Yes, it may seem hopeful, but in order to really make an impact on these root cause challenges for once and for all, we each have to play our role, and do so in unison. Addressing the long-suffering image of social work needs national support (including central government resources) alongside the sector, partners and trusted publications working together to paint a whole picture and represent the profession more fairly and with balance to avoid exacerbating the challenges related to public perception, which in turn impacts negatively on recruitment and retention.
The Big Listen was organised as a collaboration between London boroughs and councils in the South East. It focused specifically on the challenges local authorities experience in retaining and recruiting qualified social workers and managers.
Councils in London and the South East are determined to work in partnership to address the situation, including through reducing competition over children’s social worker recruitment and improving retention rates. We’re grateful to all those who shared their views as part of the Big Listen and there is a real determination to show that those views have been heard.
The biggest finding will come as no surprise to those who work in the sector; our workforce is our most precious asset.
Recruitment and retention
Recruiting and retaining high-quality and experienced practitioners is essential. Recruiting appropriately skilled and qualified staff in these roles can be a challenge for employers across the sector. It requires effective workforce planning, good quality supervision and robust learning and development.