Children’s homes operated by Nottinghamshire County Council are struggling to recruit and keep staff despite recent assessments praising their work. The Conservative-led authority runs two homes for disabled children and three mainstream homes.
They include Caudwell House, in Southwell, which is a 12-bed residential home for disabled children, and the Big House in Edwinstowe, which provides support for up to 27 children with disabilities. Its mainstream houses include the three-bed Lyndene site, also in Edwinstowe, Oakhurst in Mansfield and West View, Pleasley, which are all rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted.
The council also has access to the national Clayfields site, in Stapleford, which provides secure care for up to 20 vulnerable or troubled youngsters. However, new council papers reveal there are currently “significant challenges” in filling vacancies and staffing the homes.
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Staffing problems in care are currently a nationwide issue and reflect similar difficulties in the wider social care network. However, a recent report from the Chief Inspector of Education Children Services and Skills found it is the biggest challenge faced by the sector.
Council figures show vacancy rates at the six sites range from 12% up to 68%, with about 40 active vacancies out of 221 full-time equivalent roles in December. Vacancies are being temporarily filled by agency and relief staff but the council says this means relationships with the children “are not as consistent”.
In a report, Laurence Jones, service director for commissioning and resources, said: “Local authorities are competing with each other to attract and recruit experience from a small pool. Staffing shortages across the residential homes can result in staff becoming fatigued from working long hours and this risks increased sickness rates.
“Covering shifts with relief or agency staff also means the strong relationships between children and staff are not as consistent as would be preferred. Safe staffing levels are imperative not only on a practical level but also in relation to the regulatory requirements set by Ofsted.”
Work is currently under way to improve recruitment and retention, including offering a more “defined career pathway”. Greater focus will be made on advertising vacancies when they are posted, as well as supporting the professional development of carers.
The council says it has a “strong package of wellbeing support” to reduce the stresses of the job and is confident its homes are and will continue to be an “attractive place to work”. But a campaigner believes more pay and better working conditions are needed across the sector to build long-term relationships with the children.
Terry Galloway lived in more than 100 places before leaving the care system and now campaigns for councils to offer more support to care leavers. His work has led to both Nottingham City Council and Ashfield District Council agreeing to make care leavers a ‘protected characteristic’.
This offers greater weight to their situation and prevents discrimination in later life. A similar motion will be debated at the county council on Thursday (January 19). Mr Galloway told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It can be really challenging and social care and children’s services are backed up to the wall.
“It’s hard to get good quality staff and, for what they go through and what they have to do, they should be paid more. We also need to make their jobs easier so they can focus on relationship building.
“It’s key that they help to develop and empower these kids to make positive relationships. If the job focused more on that, staff would get a lot more satisfaction because they would see real results.”
The staffing issues will be discussed further by councillors on the corporate parenting panel on Tuesday (January 24).
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