Dozens of Notts children's social workers quit

Unmanageable caseloads and deteriorating working conditions have contributed to thousands of child and family social workers across England quitting their jobs, according to the British Association of Social Workers.

Department for Education data for Nottinghamshire shows 60 full-time employees left their jobs in the year to September, among 275 to have done so since 2017.

The figures show 40 of those who left last year had been in their roles for fewer than five years, and 17 for under two years.

Across England, the total number of social workers rose by 2 per cent, to 32,500, in the year to September, but 5,000 social workers assigned to support children and families left during that period: the highest number in five years and a rise of 16 per cent on the year before.

More than two-thirds of them had been in their role for under five years.

Support

Anthony Dhadwal, for the BASW, said it had warned the Government for years over a lack of support for new social workers and the number of experienced staff leaving the profession.

He said: “Time and time again the reasons our members have given have remained consistent – unmanageable caseloads, deteriorating working conditions and a lack of resources to help families.

“Without a fully staffed and resourced workforce, we risk social workers not being able to meet their obligations as individuals, and teams will be overstretched."

Mr Dhadwal said a record number of vacancies within the sector came as no surprise.

There were more than 6,500 vacancies counted last September – with 17 advertised in Nottinghamshire, up from 16 in September 2020.

At 15.4 per cent, the national turn-over rate was also the highest recorded since 2017, with the rate in Nottinghamshire standing at 12.8 per cent, up from 9.5 per cent recorded the year before.

There were 65 new starters last year, bringing the number of full-time child and family social workers to 471 – much higher than the 418 recorded five years previously.

A DfE spokeswoman said there were more social workers in the profession than ever and said the Government helped local authorities retain and recruit social workers by funding fast track training and professional support.

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