(569) Social Workers

14

1240/5(569)

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

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2017

Question

1. Will the Minister advise how many Social Workers (SWs) were employed annually during the period 1st January 2015 to 31st January 2017?
2. Will he provide an organisational chart of SWs 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 SWs during 2016 and for the period 1st January to 30th September 2017?
4. For  each  SW  engaged  in case work (anonymised) would the Minister provide  the  following information in a tabular form -
   1. the caseload of each SW indicating separately the number of people for whom they had both sole and shared responsibility;
   2. sickness absences during the period;
   3. annual leave taken during the period;
   4. days spent on training courses during the period as well as the nature of the courses attended?
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. The number of Social Worker posts on establishment, including those designated as senior practitioners and social workers, are detailed below:

2. The core role of a social worker is assessing need and risk, and planning, delivering and reviewing intervention and case management in line with legislation, policy and professional registration. This is the case irrespective of whether a social worker works with children or adults. Social workers receive professional supervision and line management from officers who are appropriately qualified. Managers throughout the service provide operational oversight and set standards and procedures. Staff in Children's social work are required to participate in a standby and on-call rota to provide a service outside core business hours in addition to their daily duties.

Adults and Older People

DIRECTOR HEAD OF SERVICE

1 x Team Manager Adults  1 x Team Manager Older  1 x Team Manager Safeguarding (includes Mental Health and Drug  People  2 x Snr Practitioner & Alcohol)  1 x Snr Practitioner 6 x Snr Practitioners  5 x Social Workers 14.4 Social Workers

Children's

DIRECTOR

Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service  Head of Service Safeguarding  Children In Need incl  Specialist Services  Quality Complex Needs

MASH  2 x CIN (3 + 4)  Fostering & Adoption  4 x Independent

1 x Team Manager  1 x Complex Needs Team  1 x Team Manager  Reviewing Officers 1 x Snr Practitioner  Manager  3 x Snr Practitioner

2 x Social Worker 2 x Team Manager  7 x Social Worker

7 x Snr Practitioner

20 x Social Worker

2 x CIN (1+2)

2 x Team Manager 4 x Snr Practitioner 14 x Social Worker

c)The total cost of employing social workers (including agency staff) in 2016 was £7,078,635 and in the period 1 January 2017 to 30 September 2017, £6,667,459.

4. The information requested for questions (i) to (iv) is not collated and readily available on an individual basis, but information at a broader level is provided:

1. Caseloads vary from social worker to social worker and will alter at frequent intervals as support/intervention commences and concludes, and referral rates increase and decrease, alongside consideration of the experience, knowledge and skill of the individual staff member. The number of cases' should not be used as a definitive guide as each individual's circumstances and assessment of need varies and has different degrees of complexity. Not all social workers hold caseloads in the same

manner e.g. social workers in the adoption and fostering service do not usually have case management responsibility for children requiring a social work service, rather they are responsible for the service and support of carers (including connected carers).

2. Sickness

3. Entitlement to annual leave is set out within the States of Jersey HR policy and allocated in line with contractual terms and conditions. Annual leave should be taken within the leave year, although there is provision, in exceptional circumstances, to carry forward a small amount of annual leave (5 days) to the next year with the appropriate permissions.

In 2016 and 2017, staff have been able to apply to buy additional annual leave.

Case-holding social workers and senior practitioners are employed on Civil Service Grades 10 and 11. Part-time staff are entitled to annual leave on a pro-rata basis. Annual leave entitlement ranges from 18 to 28 days at Civil Service Grade 10, and 20 to 28 days at Grade 11.

4. Data is not collected across the States of Jersey that provides a breakdown of numbers and types of training days on an individual basis. Records of training are held in different places such as Health & Safety, Safeguarding Partnership Board, training programme sign-in sheets, individual supervision records and form part of the Performance, Review and Appraisal (PRA) process.

Areas complete an annual Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to identify areas of need in order to inform the planning of training.

The service organises training and development using definitions of statutory, mandatory and professional and includes specialist professional/subject-specific, organisational, management and leadership training sessions.

The introduction of the Virtual College' on-line training system will assist with the production of management reports.

The replacement States of Jersey human resources system will be capable of recording the detail of training for and by staff and is scheduled to be implemented in Q2 2018.

5. The number of individuals in placements off-island varies according to individual assessed need and

circumstances. At 30 September 2017, there were 39 people in placements outside Jersey (22 children, 12 mental health, five adult social care placements). Each individual has a social worker or case co-ordinator allocated; many of them also have other professionals working with them such as a consultant psychiatrist, support worker, mental health nurse, independent reviewing officer, advocacy worker, best interest assessor or supervising social worker (of carer). This varies according to need and providing a total number would only reflect an accurate figure at a particular point in time.

Visits are carried out on a basis appropriate to the individual's needs. This includes attendance at tribunals, care programme approach reviews and looked after reviews. Some individuals may well be settled and engaged in treatment/intervention and require less contact, while others require more support and contact. Family contact is supported and at times supervised or facilitated. Staff in Jersey work to the standard accepted and applied in England for statutory visits to looked after children.