Employment of social workers

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 24th MARCH 2015

Question

1. Will the Minister advise members how many social workers were employed by the Department during the period 1st January 2014 to 31st January 2015?
2. Using a diagram or diagrams, will the Minister set out an organisation chart of these social workers indicating whether they are managers, case workers or other specialists and the numbers in each category together with their grades, titles and duties?
3. What was the total cost of employing these social workers?
4. For each social worker engaged in case work (anonymised A, B, C etc.) would the Minister provide the following information in a tabular form -

1. the case load of each social worker indicating separately the number of people they had sole responsibility for and those they had a shared responsibility for;
2. the number of days sickness taken during the period;
3. the number of days holiday taken during the period;
4. the number of days spent on training courses during the period?

5. How many case workers from Jersey are working with Jersey people in the UK, how many people are they dealing with and how often do they visit the UK to supervise their clients?

Answer:

1. 94 social workers were employed by HSSD.

3. The Community and Social Services organisation chart (Table 1) and breakdown in Table 2 shows the divisions in which the social workers are employed and the number.

Community and Social Services Management Structure

Table 1

Managing Director Community & Social Services

Lead  Director  Director  Director  Director  Planning, Manager  MDedepiutycal  Adult Services  Older Adult  Children's  Governance &  Performance

Therapies  Director  Services  Services  Nursing Practice Management

By Annual & Support Rotation

Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service Alcohol & Drug  Community  Mental Health  Community &  Specialist  Social Work  Residential &

Services  Social Work  Support  Support

Head of Service

Occupational

Therapy

Head of Nursing  Head of Nursing

(Mental Health)  (Residential Care) Director of Counselling

Head of Service  & Psychotherapy for

Psychology  States of Jersey

(H&SS / ESC / HA /

outside agencies)

Head of Service

Speech &

Language Therapy

Table 2

Social workers are graded in the following manner – newly qualified social workers join the organisation at Civil Service grade 9, main grade social workers are CS 10, senior  social workers are CS 11 and team managers are graded CS 12.  

Main grade social workers are members of an established professional discipline who work with other professions to play a key role in helping children, adults and families to take control of and to improve their lives in conditions where their security, safety or ability to participate in civic life are restricted.

Senior Social Workers provide supervision, professional leadership and support to a number of main grade and newly qualified social work staff. The role contributes to the delivery of a person- centred service for Children, Adults and Older People through partnership and effective liaison with other statutory and voluntary sector services e.g. GPs, physiotherapists, voluntary care groups and others.

The social work team managers, as first-line managers, are the keystone of any social work service: their quality and competence make a significant difference to its performance. Managers must often manage teams who are working with people who have complex problems and who are experiencing major changes in their lives. It requires a range of different skills and competencies both in managing staff and in ensuring information flow throughout the organisation.

Adults and Older Adults each has 3 team managers and Children's Services have 5. It should be noted that some of these team managers manage multi-disciplinary teams which consist of other professionals as well as social workers.

3. The total cost in 2014 of employing these social workers was £4,648,520.

4. (i)  Social work caseloads can vary enormously from worker to worker dependent on the social worker's experience, area of operation and complexity of cases.

For example, the social workers supporting the Adult Mental Health Community Services  team  have  an  average  case  load  of  17,  while  in  the  last  week  of February  the  Children's  Multi  Agency  Safeguarding  Hub  had  an  average caseload of 19, but with a range of between 8 and 27 cases per worker.

(ii)  The number of days sickness taken by social workers during the period is most usefully shown by reference to the percentage of days lost through sickness.

Community and Social Services has implemented a robust managing absence process which includes monthly analysis of absence rates across all service areas. In addition, individuals with high levels of sickness are supported through the Managing Attendance Policy.

3. Social Workers are Civil Servants and as such are entitled to between 21 and 28 days of annual leave a year, according to their length of service.

5. It is difficult to capture the entirety of the training received by social workers. It comprises a mix of statutory and mandatory training alongside that required for continuing professional development. In addition, there is training that is not formally  recorded,  for  example,  team  action  learning  sets  or  peer  group supervision sessions, which are core to their role.

 In the table below are examples of training for social workers that was delivered in

Community and Social Services last year.

5. There are 12 adult placements and 15 child placements in the UK.

Everyone placed in the UK has an allocated care coordinator in Jersey who has responsibility for their case.

Reviews of clients depend on an individual's particular assessed needs, but, in general, they range from 3-monthly reviews in Adult Mental Health and 6- monthly for people with a Learning Disability, or as and when required by the individual's circumstances and needs. When travelling to the UK to undertake a review the worker will, where feasible, undertake a number of reviews at the same time.