Staff shortages in Renfrewshire Council’s social work team are at their highest level in a decade, a document has revealed.
The extent of the pressures facing the department has been detailed in a stark report, which will be presented at Thursday’s Education and Children’s Services Policy Board in the chambers.
The troubling impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been highlighted as part of a recovery plan for children’s social work services at the council.
Some of the challenges outlined include “professional isolation” due to initial limited access to office accommodation and significant staffing pressures in the past year — caused by a national shortage of social workers.
The demands of the job are usually mitigated by “close bonds” but the pandemic has disrupted this, meaning even the council’s most experienced staff have found circumstances “overwhelming”.
The report says: “Social Work is not a job which should be done without wider connections.
“We have tried very hard to promote these connections during the pandemic but believe it is best addressed by our teams spending time together face to face in our offices.”
It explains that frontline social work teams were “operating completely from home” during the first weeks of the pandemic, while continuing to visit children and families throughout the first lockdown.
Within a month, one building had opened with staff providing a duty response on a rota basis. The remainder of the main offices reopened on a phased basis from July 2020, but with significantly reduced numbers of staff accessing the accommodation.
The document said a recovery plan will focus on matters including, but not limited to, a return to offices, a ‘reconnecting with practice’ training and development programme and identifying pressure points in the service.
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
“Social Work is a challenging profession with complex, relationship based tasks associated with the role,” the paper says.
“Reflection and critiquing of practice from supervisors and peers is central to effective performance. This is particularly true for newly qualified or inexperienced staff as like many other professional roles the consolidation of your learning is done 'on the job' from shadowing more experienced colleagues and being guided by your manager.
“Experienced social workers also require to connect with colleagues regarding their practice and to be supported by their team when undertaking complex work which often involves making life-changing decisions for children and their families.
“Furthermore, we should not underestimate the impact on all our staff of having to undertake highly sensitive work from their home rather than an office environment.
“Like occupations such as the police, nurses and teachers, the demands of the job for social work staff are often mitigated by close bonds with colleagues/supervisors and the wider service. The absence of this on a day-to-day basis with the other issues highlighted above has made the job feel quite overwhelming at times for even our most experienced and robust employees.
“We are also experiencing staff shortages at the highest level in the past decade. This position is not unique to Renfrewshire and is in fact replicated across Scotland and indeed the United Kingdom.
“The pandemic has made many people consider their future career path with the consequence being that the sector is under extreme pressure and is struggling even to fill gaps with agency social workers.
“Vacancy levels are being closely monitored and appropriate action taken when necessary to mitigate associated risks.
“In addition to a number of vacancies, increasingly we have a workforce which is relatively inexperienced as candidates applying for posts have only recently left university.
“New qualified and inexperienced staff require a higher level of support and cannot be allocated the same complexity of work that a more experienced social worker can hold.”
Councillors will be asked to note the recovery work being undertaken at Thursday's board.
Download the FREE Renfrewshire Live app now for all the latest news, features and sport in your area. Available on both Android and Apple. Download here: smarturl.it/RenfrewLiveSocial
