Children hit as city struggles to fill social work gaps

CONCERNS have been raised that there is still a 44 per cent vacancy rate for Bradford’s more experienced children’s social work jobs.

A Bradford Council committee was given an update on work being done to improve the Children’s Services department – which is rebuilding following an “inadequate” Ofsted rating almost two years ago.

The council has produced a self- evaluation of the service that was presented to members at the last online meeting. It said the council was working on measures to improve recruitment – particularly of more experienced social workers.

The report revealed that 44 per cent of established Level 2 and 3 social worker posts are currently vacant.

Bradford Council has long had an issue retaining experienced social workers, with a high reliance on agency staff to plug gaps.

The high proportion of vacancies was raised during the meeting, with Children’s Services deputy director Irfan Alam saying: “That is one of the main issues we are trying to address by refreshing our recruitment strategy.

“We have to think whether we look at some kind of remuneration package and what that would look like.

“This issue has been a challenge in Bradford for quite some time.”

Head of Children’s Services Mark Douglas said recruitment of qualified social workers was one of the “biggest challenges” facing the department.

He said the council was able to recruit social workers, and had just employed over 30 new staff, but it had proved difficult to get them to stay long enough to become a Level 2 social worker.

“What we know is that many social workers stay for two years then move on,” he added.