Social Workers

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Wednesday 16th May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, when we come to the end of this short debate and we all go home for our piece of toast because all the cafés here are closed, I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, will feel that we may not have had quantity but we certainly had quality. We have certainly had that so far from him and from the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy.

The job of a social worker is always difficult. They have to make finely balanced judgments every day, based on a large number of factors. Every case requires them to use their professional judgment and experience and very often they are themselves judged by those who know little about it. When it comes to decisions about taking children into care, they are often damned if they do and damned if they don’t—but I thank them for what they do.

As vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children, I will focus on children and family social workers, because last year our group carried out a very revealing inquiry in this area called No Good Options. We are currently part way through a piece of follow-up work. Many of the issues we revealed are applicable to all social workers.

The big issues are heavy case loads and stress; staff turnover and stability of the workforce; and the opportunity to undertake further professional development, with pathways to progress in the profession. Staff were also concerned about the status of the profession. I hope that the new regulator, Social Work England, under the able leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford, will be able to contribute positively to that status and quality with the right kind of regulation. Social workers want their professional views to be respected and to bring about the best outcomes for the children in their care. I think I can say that anyone who becomes a social worker really cares about the people they serve, and we should value the work they do for society.

We found evidence of rising demand, rising thresholds for intervention, and increasing case complexity—at a time when resources are falling. Schools are now taking on tasks that used to be carried out by children’s social workers. As a result of this, one of our recommendations was that the Department for Education and the then Department for Communities and Local Government should carry out a review of the resourcing of children’s social services and provide the resources needed to enable local authorities to adhere to the LGA guidance on case loads. One problem reported to us was that local authorities cannot afford the early, low-level interventions that can prevent a case escalating into a more complex and serious matter that costs more to treat. All our witnesses were committed to this preventive work, but many found it impossible to afford because they can afford only the mandatory services.

This upward cost and case-load spiral puts a very heavy burden on staff and supervisors. All this leads to high staff turnover, which hinders the development of stable relationships with service users. When social workers leave a stable job and go to work for an agency, they often have more work flexibility, a more manageable workload and sometimes higher pay, so you cannot really blame them. But this is not the ideal way to serve vulnerable children who suffer when their social worker keeps changing.

Some local authorities have managed to reduce the use of locum staff, but some still have very high levels. Whereas the average was 16%, five authorities had 40% and one had 100% locum staff. In response to this, many authorities have grouped together to sign a memorandum of understanding to keep the cost of locums down and reduce churn. This has worked well and we believe that 80% of children’s services now work in this way—but will the Government please look into whether there could be a national memorandum on the payment of locum staff, as the costs are crippling some hard-pressed local authorities?

Case loads vary tremendously. A number of our witnesses recommended 12 families per social worker as the optimum case load. In Essex, where average case loads have decreased in recent years, from between 25 and 40 per social worker down to 12, the inquiry heard that staff turnover had markedly decreased and morale had improved. The LGA advises that all employers should use a workload management system that sets clear targets for safe workloads in each service and regularly assess each social worker’s case load, taking into account complexity, capacity and the need for supervision. We recommended that the Department for Education should develop a strategy to reduce churn in the children’s social work system. Will the Government seriously consider the need to do this?

Cafcass is one of the country’s largest employers of children and family social workers, because of their role in making assessments and advising the courts. Under the recently ended chairmanship of my noble friend Lady Tyler of Enfield, who cannot be in her place today because of other commitments, Cafcass has been turned around from what some in past years regarded as a failing organisation to one that recently received an outstanding inspection report from Ofsted. My noble friend, her chief executive and every single Cafcass staff member are to be congratulated on this achievement.

Although, as with most organisations, some still criticise aspects of Cafcass’s service, it might be instructive to look at how it made such impressive improvements. The answer, of course, is complex—and a lot of hard work. However, two paragraphs of the Ofsted report stand out in relation to our debate today. Ofsted stated:

“Successful workforce planning and innovations in Cafcass’s recruitment processes (plus additional investment secured by the chief executive) have resulted in a higher number of frontline practitioners with more capacity to sustain a high-quality service. Senior leaders are not complacent. They are committed to maintaining average caseloads for staff at manageable levels to safeguard employee well-being and productivity. In our survey of Cafcass staff, 97% agreed or strongly agreed that Cafcass, as a national organisation, continually strives to improve”.


This comment is a great credit to the management and governance of the organisation, but I did notice that very important phrase,

“plus additional investment secured by the chief executive”.

I suspect that all employers of social workers would want to be able to say that.

Attention at Cafcass was also paid to staff well-being, continued professional development and promotion opportunities. Ofsted stated:

“Staff report that they are well supported, feel valued and have good access to a wide range of training and development opportunities. Many staff have benefited from in-house development schemes and have been promoted to more senior positions within the area. Staff turnover is low and caseloads are manageable across all areas of practice. Managers are readily available and guide and advise the skilled workforce effectively. The performance and learning review (PLR) process works well and includes a good balance of staff development and well-being, self-assessment, reflection and case discussion”.


This has clearly been a blueprint for success that others could follow.

The fact that careful case planning allows the majority of Cafcass staff to consistently provide excellent, timely services for children, their families and the family courts contributes to staff morale and a high level of staff retention. I know that a big effort was also made to ensure that staff produce strong, evidence-based and succinct reports that minimise the need for additional experts, and reduce delay and the need for further appointments, which can only be helpful to service users. The voice of the child is very powerful and often quoted verbatim in reports.

Social work is a people business and those who find ways to invest in their staff reap the rewards, as has been demonstrated. What plans do the Government have to invest in the quality and status of social work, for the sake of the workers themselves and that of their clients?