(9441) Employment of social workers

1240/5(9441)

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 MAY 2016

Question

Will the Minister provide –

1. a breakdown of the number of front line social workers (as opposed to managers) employed by his department showing their qualifications, time spent working in social work; and the number of years they have worked for the department, and the number of years they have worked for the department;
2. an estimate of the average annual case load of each front line social worker;
3. details of the turnover of social workers in each year since 2008?

Answer

1. Table 1 shows the headcount and FTE of social workers, per area, as at the 30th April 2016:

Table 1

Table 2 shows social workers' length of service (in years) with the States of Jersey. It is not practical to show the "length of time spent working in social work" as this data is not held in SoJ computer records. Staff coming to Jersey will range from newly qualified social workers who have just finished their degrees to those who have many years of service across a number of employers and service areas.

Table 2

Qualifications of social workers

The range of qualifications will depend on when an individual formally qualified as a social worker. Since 2003, social work has been a degree-based qualification and therefore all staff employed since then will hold either a first degree or Master's degree in social work.

The previous qualifications are listed below and all registered social workers in Jersey will have one or other of these, depending on when they qualified.

The main qualification for social work is the undergraduate Bachelor's degree (BA, BSc or BSW) in social work, offered at British universities from September 2003 onwards. There is also a Master's degree (MA, MSc or MSW).

These have replaced the previous qualifying award, the undergraduate Diploma in Social Work (DipSW), although the postgraduate counterpart, the Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work (PGDipSW) is still awarded and allows the holder to register and practice as a social worker. The DipSW was first awarded in 1991 and phased out across the UK by 2009. Prior to this, the recognised qualification was the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW), awarded between 1975 and 1991.

2. Estimate of the average annual caseload of each front line social worker

Caseload numbers can vary from worker to worker with the number of cases itself not giving a full picture. Allocation depends on a number of factors including caseload mix, complexity of the case and experience of the social worker along with consideration of any special needs, such as communication requirements. An illustration of this would be that a newly-qualified worker would not carry a case where a child's name was placed on the child protection register.

The length of time a case is open is also dependent on progression of the care plan and target outcomes, which can be impacted by the complexity of a range of needs. Some individuals require long-term involvement and, in some cases, life-long support, while others require short- to medium-term intervention. This means that any estimate of annual average caseload should be treated with caution.

Community and Social Services receives referrals from a range of different sources for social work assessment and/or support with only some of these progressing to being classed as cases'. This means that some social workers employed at the front door' of the service will hold fewer cases and will do more assessments, screening and short-term work.

Table 3 outlines the service areas and caseloads.

Table 3

3. Due to changes in the way that data is now created and calculated in SoJ computer records, turnover figures are shown from 2013 onwards, with each year having its own table. Only areas where turnover has actually occurred are shown: