Comment on Community Care survey of social workers – job...

Rachel Dickinson, ADCS President, said:

“As more families need help, we need more high quality social workers to protect children and young people from harm and support families with the challenges they face. Local authorities are working hard, locally and regionally, to encourage more people who are well suited to the role to choose social work as a career and to want to stay which is why any increase of social workers looking to leave the profession is a concern. A national recruitment and retention campaign that challenges negative media representations would help with this endeavour.

“Positive, continuous relationships matter to the children and families we work with so it’s good news that more social workers expressed a preference for permanent or full-time employment which makes building meaningful relationships more likely. And it’s unsurprising that the reasons why social workers look for another job are similar to other professions from a better work/life balance to career development opportunities. Understandably, pay is a consideration too. I’m sure local authorities will be interested in this feedback from social workers particularly the factors that are putting them off applying for roles, such as a lengthy application process.”

ENDS

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