Pay cap ‘helping kids’ services’
COUNCILLORS TOLD WORKERS ‘HERE FOR LONG HAUL’
A cap on pay for agency staff is having a positive effect on Sunderland’s struggling children’s services, city bosses have been told.
Since last year (2017), 12 North East authorities agreed to ensure they paid the same rates for temporary staff.
And speaking to Sunderland City councillors this month (Thursday, October 4), Jill Colbert, the council’s director of children’s services, said it was helping recruit social workers who are ‘here for the long haul’.
“[The cap] resulted in a significant reduction in agency staff working with Together for Children,” she told the Children, Education and Skills Scrutiny Committee.
“In other words, people left for other parts of the country where they could receive a higher agency rate.”
She added: “We have significantly improved on those indicators and as a result I’ve been able to recruit.
“There’s really positive improvements in recruiting permanent staff and as a result, we can start to see improvements in performance.
“We’ve got a workforce here for the long haul and who can begin to grip the issues.”
Together for Children (TfC), the organisation formed to run the service for Sunderland City Council following 2015’s damning Ofsted report, had to pay for 167 temps during its first year in business, 2017/18, at a cost of more than £6million.