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County hunt for social workers goes overseas (From Brentwood Weekly News)
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County hunt for social workers goes overseas
3:00pm Wednesday 15th April 2009
A NATIONAL debate on the recruitment of social workers has been called for by the leader of Essex County Council, after the authority said it was forced to advertise 43 positions abroad.
The council claims it has posted adverts for jobs in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand because it cannot find enough recruits in the UK.
The lucrative jobs offer pay of up to £42,000, and include incentives such as a final salary pension scheme.
Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex County Council, said it was unfortunate the council had been forced to advertise abroad when jobs were needed in the UK.
He added: “Recruiting from overseas is not a long-term solution, which is why we need to work together to change the standing and conditions of the profession in order to attract new recruits and retain experienced staff.”
Currently, about one in ten social work positions in the UK is vacant, while 5,500 are filled by temporary staff.
It is not the first time the county council has recruited from abroad – in February it launched a drive in Australia to find 120 secondary school teachers.
Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester, said the council should be looking closer to home.
He said: “This smacks of desperation and shows up the abject failure of Essex County Council to work with training providers to find people to work in Essex in jobs that are required for Essex people.
“It reflects badly that at a time of high unemployment, they cannot recruit because they failed to try to work with other people to train more staff.”
But Bernard Jenkin, Conservative MP for North Essex, said: “Essex County Council has got to employ the best people at the best price, but there is clearly a message here for people who are looking for employment, why not apply to be trained as a social worker?”
The profession has been in the spotlight after Haringey Council social workers were criticised for not doing enough to prevent the death of Baby P.
Lord Hanningfield said: “There needs to be a national debate on the future of the social work profession – how it can be better supported and promoted.
“This country faces some difficult choices if it is to get the profession it wants.”
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Your Say YourBrentwood
Boris, Colchester says...
4:55pm Wed 15 Apr 09
And they should pay a decent wage while newcomers to the profession are qualifying.
Violet1977, Colchester says...
6:01pm Wed 15 Apr 09
This is just a typical response from Bob Russell. Does he ever do anything but criticise? Surely even he can see that when it comes to children you can't just pluck someone off the street, that they must have training and skills. His reaction shows how out of touch he is. Anglia Ruskin run a well recognised training course and the Council have a good relationship with them, but because of how social workers have been portrayed recently it takes very special and dedicated people to want to do the job. Maybe rather than spending his energy criticising Essex he should be looking at why people don't want to go into social work and come up with some positive ways to fix it. But I suspect that as he default position is negative that would just been too much for him.
comcare, says...
10:09pm Wed 15 Apr 09
The result? The public has a negative view of social workers and, as Violet1977 says, it takes a special person to want to become a social worker. The resultant high vacancy rates make failures more likely, feeding yet more bad press, and the downward spiral continues.
This has to change. The Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign, run by Community Care magazine, is calling for fair, balanced portrayals of social work. We're not asking the media to ignore the serious cases; just to report them responsibly and to cover some of the success stories too to give a balanced picture.
We also need support from government and local authorities to help alter perceptions of social work.
comcare, says...
10:11pm Wed 15 Apr 09
.uk/stand
Poacher, Clacton says...
12:57pm Thu 16 Apr 09
There is either something very wrong with ECC, the unemployeds attitude to work and benefits or the skill set of the unemployed and the training and learning offerred by our educational establishments.
It is time for this ocuntry to do some serious thinking before it goes totally to pot.
Grumpytim, Clacton on sea says...
2:51pm Fri 17 Apr 09
Excuse my ignorance on this (& laziness in not looking it up) but how long does it take to train and qualify to become a stand alone social worker? I noticed that all the ads ask for qualified applicants - even if there was a sudden rush of trainees its still going to be a while before they make an impact. And all the recent bad press about overworked, underfunded departments isn't the greatest advertising tool either. I do genuinely feel sorry for some of these workers - seems to be a job where you'll be damned if you do and damned if you dont
Grumpytim, Clacton on sea says...
3:27pm Wed 15 Apr 09
But Bernard Jenkin, Conservative MP for North Essex, said: “Essex County Council has got to employ the best people at the best price, but there is clearly a message here for people who are looking for employment, why not apply to be trained as a social worker?”
Maybe because it takes years of training on very low pay to get qualified and be viewed as leper (rightly or wrongly) in society? Pay people a decent wage to train - then you'll get decent applicants - but its still going to take time to fill those spaces !