Highland Council Children's Services Social Worker Vacancies At Crisis Point - 41% Vacant Posts - Agency Workers Cost Over £1million

9th May 2023

On Thursday 18 May the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee of Highland Council will discuss the drastic vacancy rates in Children's services. The extra cost to cover vacancies has reached over £1million annually.

There are over 1000 posts (c880 FTE) within the Health & Social Care Directorate. This figure includes 230 FTE Child Health posts, with a vacancy rate of 8%. This is as a result of the really successful Advanced Training Programme for nurses. In terms of the number of social work and social care staff within the establishment, there are 295 posts (254.78 FTE).

There are 78 (FTE) Children's Services Social Worker posts in the establishment. As of 24 of March 2023, there are 32 vacancies across Highland, which equates to a 41% vacancy rate. Those vacancies are principally within the Families Teams who have lead responsibility for Care and Protection concerns in relation to children. When teams are understaffed, retention of existing staff also becomes more challenging.

The vacancies are a cause of significant concern and inevitably contribute to difficulties in fulfilling statutory functions. These functions are crucial and relate to the health and safety of some of Highland's most vulnerable children and young people. These mandatory functions are such that it is not generally possible to limit or restrict the service which requires to be provided nor it is possible for such functions to be carried out by non-professional staff.

The challenges associated with recruitment are not unique to Highland Council. However, there are geographical challenges, specifically in rural areas, which add a more complex dimension to recruitment and retention of social workers. There is recognition nationally that the social work profession, particularly in terms of the delivery of children's services, is in crisis and that unprecedented recruitment and retention challenges exist across Scotland and are being experienced in all local authority areas with particular concerns in remote and rural areas.

In terms of the Mental Health Officer Service the current vacancy rate is in the region of 35%. That too is significant and notwithstanding the fact that the Service have taken steps to introduce a Trainee programme which has received national recognition, recruitment remains very challenging. Recent job advertisements for qualified staff did not receive any applications. Similar challenges exist within the Justice Service albeit at lesser levels.

The Service has been obliged to have recourse to the use of Agency staff over the years and that has been particularly necessary in what are generally considered to be "hard to fill" vacancies which are generally situated out with the Inner Moray Firth area. In 2022/23 agency spend amounted to £ 1,029,141.29, which is in line with previous years. As a rule of thumb, it should be noted that a vacancy which is filled on an agency basis amount to a cost which is over twice that which it would be where the post to be filled on a permanent basis.

Read the full report HERE

The full meeting agenda and papers are HERE

The meeting will be webcast HERE