Council using agency workers to fill social worker posts

Rochdale Council is using agency workers to fill the 28% of social worker posts that are currently unfilled by permanent social workers.

Experts have warned that children are being put at risk as new national figures show that an average of 11% of posts for permanent children’s social workers at councils in England are unfilled.

Paul Marshall, Assistant Director of Children’s Social Care at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We recognise that social work with children and young people is best done by people who are working on a permanent basis, and who have the capacity to establish positive relationships.

"We have an extremely rigorous application process that means only the highest quality candidates are taken on a permanent basis – we will not rush this process if it means accepting a social worker who we don’t feel is up to the job.

"We are currently using agency staff to fill the additional positions while we recruit permanent staff, which we anticipate will be completed in 2015.”

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW), has warned that the gaps in the service can “up the ante” for vulnerable children with experts also fearing that employees have found roles untenable after a number of high profile child abuse scandals.