Lord Kennedy of Southwark
Main Page: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)Social Workers
Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report by Dr Jermaine Ravalier, Social Workers —Working Conditions and Wellbeing, published in July, what strategies they have considered to alleviate the workload demands faced by social workers.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, first, I declare an interest as vice-president of the Local Government Association.
I am delighted to have secured this debate following the report of Dr Jermaine Ravalier on the working conditions and well-being of social workers, published in July of last year. Dr Ravalier is a senior lecturer in psychology at Bath Spa University, where he co-leads the psychological research group. The research was commissioned but not paid for by the Social Workers Union, and the views and conclusions in the report are those of the author alone.
Social workers are dedicated professionals dealing with very complex, very challenging and very stressful situations. They deal with vulnerable children and vulnerable adults. The decisions that they make have a huge impact on people, and getting the assessments right so that the right decisions are made is crucial. Good social work can transform people’s lives and protect them from harm. To deliver that, social workers must have and maintain the skills and knowledge to establish effective relationships with children, adults and families, as well as professionals from a range of agencies.
It is important in this debate to set out the key points, so that the report is seen in that context. In her response to the debate, I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Manzoor, will set out what strategies the Government have considered and are deploying to alleviate the work demands faced by social workers.
The research undertaken by Dr Ravalier had five specific aims: to investigate stress levels in UK social workers; to investigate differences in stress levels experienced by social workers in different job roles; to investigate the working conditions faced by UK social workers; to demonstrate how satisfied social workers are with their role, how many are seeking to leave the role in the next 12 months and the level of presenteeism in the job role; and to demonstrate how the working conditions that social workers are exposed to influence stress, job satisfaction, turnover intentions and presenteeism.
Stress can have devastating consequences for the individuals experiencing it. It has serious health implications, including the development of coronary heart disease, insomnia and musculoskeletal pain. It has also been demonstrated that exposure to chronic stress can have an adverse effect on the immune system. On the effects of stress on workplaces and the number of days at work lost due to stress, the Health and Safety Executive showed that 11.7 million days were lost due to stress in 2016, and the Labour Force Survey of 2016 identified that the highest levels of sickness and absenteeism due to stress were in the health and social care sector.
The report drew out some interesting and concerning aspects that need to be explored and addressed to avoid even more serious problems in the future. Work was done with social workers in a variety of roles and levels of experience across different disciplines, and with social workers of different ethnic origins and both with and without a disability. The first thing to note is that 92% of social workers worked more hours than they were contracted and paid for; on average, they worked 10 extra hours a week. That, in itself, demonstrates the dedication of those working in the profession. Overall job satisfaction was high, and they were highly engaged in their jobs. Even when ill, social workers had often gone to work rather than take time off. However, it was also shown that up to 52% of those workers had contemplated leaving the profession in the next 12 to 15 months.
It was also shown that working conditions were poor across all areas of social work and that demands were high, but there were poor levels of support, which must be of concern to us all, and in particular to the Government. Workloads were seen as a real problem, with too many cases—and too many complex cases per individual social worker—and a general view that more social workers were needed to ensure that the job was undertaken to a sufficiently high standard. Concerns were also expressed about the levels of admin support available and the amount of paperwork that was routinely required. In many cases, workers did not even have their own computer to work from, and hot-desking was not helping the situation.
There were also concerns about the desire expressed by social workers to have more dialogue and supervision from more experienced colleagues as part of a professional development programme. I believe that is linked to a desire and a need for better managerial support within local authorities and other organisations which have a knowledge and understanding of social work and can thereby provide greater support. This could be an issue, as we have seen a number of council departments merge to create super-departments, covering a number of disciplines. But it is incumbent on them, when making these changes, to ensure that the structures in place have professionals in the various disciplines in sufficiently senior posts to provide the managerial and professional support needed.
There was also a feeling that the research picked up that social workers and the roles they undertook were not well understood by the general public. I think that is true. People understand what doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers do, but they are less clear about the range of work undertaken by social workers and the highly skilled and complex nature of their job. It does not help that, when things go tragically wrong, as sometimes they do, that is often the only time you hear about social workers and the work they do. That can paint a very unfair and negative view of the profession, which is unjustified.
Can the Minister outline what the Government are doing to raise the status of the profession? What are the Government doing to assist the recruitment of more social workers and to retain more social workers in the profession? In particular, what action is being taken to keep more experienced staff in the profession? We are all aware that budgets for local government are under pressure, but can the Minister tell the House what the Government are doing to help protect vulnerable groups who need support—children, families and elderly people—as the pressures on local authorities are so great and it is in the Government’s gift to do something about that? Can the Minister give us her thoughts on what action should be taken to support new and existing social work managers in their jobs? Can she confirm that she would be happy for representatives of the Social Workers Union to meet with a Minister, and for a representative of the union to come in to discuss with officials in the department the issues contained within this research to see what further measures can be brought to bear to improve the situation? These are serious problems that need addressing. The funding gap facing children’s services is £2 billion. The Government have made cuts to programmes such as the early intervention grant, which has lost £500 million since 2013 just in children’s services and is projected to have a further reduction of £183 million by 2020. This is just one example of how the situation is getting worse every day.
Finally, can the Minister say something about the Return to Social Work campaign, which I think has been a very worthwhile initiative that needs to be supported for future years to make a real difference in tackling the problems we are discussing this evening? I thank everyone who is speaking in this short debate and look forward to the Minister’s reply.
Baroness Manzoor
The number is 1,200. If I said 12,000, I apologise. I am not saying that it is not troubling, but I am saying that the survey looked at only 1,200 out of a workforce of 92,000. Although it is troubling, it is not really a fully representative picture of the whole profession. However, I understand the problems: the noble Lord shakes his head, but what I am saying is that we need to look at improving working conditions and practice quality. I entirely agree with the assertion that the noble Lord has made.
The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, also asked about heavy caseloads leading to a lack of preventive work. She spoke of Cafcass and the very important improvements that have taken place there in relation to children’s social work. There is increasing evidence of innovative practices and approaches for supporting children and young people. I agree with her that this shows examples of very good practice. Ofsted inspections are including caseloads and supervisions in their judgments on quality of local authority children’s services, and this is to be welcomed.
The noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Watson, also asked about further workloads and improving supervision and support of social workers to ensure that they had appropriate workloads. We are improving staffing capacity and the children’s social workers have increased to approximately 30,000 in statutory children’s services over the last two years. The noble Lord also asked about pay. As well as outlining the challenges facing the profession, the report suggests that there are some solutions to help improve social workers’ working conditions. I have just alluded to what we are doing in relation to pay.
The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, asked about strategies that the Government are undertaking overall. The Government have an ambitious programme to raise the status and standing of the social work profession. I want to highlight the action we are taking in some key areas, which will help to deliver the improvements we all want to see.
In professional regulation, an area raised by all noble Lords, we are establishing a new specialist regulator for social work, as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, mentioned: Social Work England. Focused purely on social work, this bespoke regulator will cover the whole profession and have public protection at the heart of all of its work—the noble Lords, Lord Watson, Lord Kennedy and Lord Parekh, said that they wanted to see greater emphasis placed on prevention. The new body will be about more than just this. We want to support professionalism and standards across the profession. As a social work-specific regulator, it will be able to develop an in-depth understanding of the profession and use this to set standards for the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours required to become and remain a registered social worker. That addresses the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. Finally, it will play a key role in promoting public confidence in the profession and helping to raise the status and standards of social work.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, said, I am sure noble Lords will join me in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford, on his role as the newly appointed chair of Social Work England as he leads work to establish the regulator in 2019.
As the noble Lords, Lord Kennedy, Lord Parekh and Lord Watson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, said, education, training and continuous professional development is absolutely key. I have already addressed the issue regarding Cafcass that the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, raised, the importance of staff development and case planning and the improvements that Cafcass has undertaken. I am sure that the new regulator will look at those models very carefully.
We are making sure that those entering the social work profession receive the best training possible. We have established 15 teaching partnerships, bringing together universities and local authorities to improve the quality of social work education. We are also delivering fast-track programmes to bring high-potential graduates into the social work profession. For newly qualified social workers entering the profession, the transition from education to the realities of practice can, as we know, be daunting. That is why we have introduced an assessed supported year in employment to provide social workers with valuable additional support during their first year in practice. The programme has benefited over 20,000 child and family and adult social workers since 2012, helping to improve recruitment, retention and performance management.
For established social workers we are funding a range of assessment and development programmes to enable people to progress into more specialist or senior roles. I hope that addresses the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy. We are also supporting social workers who have left the profession and want to return, through the Return to Social Work programme, with the aim to train up to 100 social workers across three regions.
In conclusion, local authorities, like all parts of government, have had to make difficult choices to help us balance the public finances. We also recognise that demand for social care services is rising. That is why, across adult and children’s services, we are looking at how local authorities can safely make best use of the resources available. Funding is important, as most noble Lords highlighted, but a range of factors will influence service quality and workforce capacity, including leadership, support and professional development, which the Government are addressing through our reform and improvement programmes. I add that while we have made good progress, there is more to do to create a sustainable social care system that stretches beyond any electoral cycle to provide world-class care and support for future generations.
I am checking to see if I have missed any questions. The noble Lords, Lord Kennedy and Lord Parekh, asked about the Return to Social Work Programme, which I will touch on. This has been supported by the Local Government Association, the DHSC, the DfE and the chief social workers, and it is particularly focused on areas experiencing recruitment challenges. We will look at how that goes as we move forward. I am now out of time, so if there are questions I have not answered, I will endeavour to write to noble Lords and ensure that they get answers.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
We should get one point on the record. I asked whether the Minister would arrange for John McGowan, the general secretary of the Social Workers Union, and some of his colleagues and officials, to meet a Minister of the department or some of their officials to discuss the important details. I hope the Minister will be able to agree to that over the Dispatch Box. Finally, I hope the Minister will go away and think carefully. Although she may not like some of the issues that came out of the report, on any basis of the quality of quantitative research, a sample of 1,200 people out of 92,000 is certainly well within the norms of what is considered justifiable to be looked at.
Baroness Manzoor
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for those two points. I will take the latter first, and say that I recognise the problems and the issues. Certainly, the Government are not dismissing those issues, which is why I tried to address the strategy the Government have put forward. We have taken the report seriously; I read it, and some of its findings, as the noble Lord rightly highlighted, were disturbing. We plan to do more and can do more. Secondly, on the issue of meetings, I will certainly pass on the message to the Minister in the department. However, personally, I am always happy to meet anyone who wishes to do so.