Child care boost following pledge to end ‘bidding war’ over social workers

Local authorities in London including Newham are working together to protect the quality of children’s social care in the face of the rising costs of expensive agency staff and ‘bidding wars’ over social workers.

London Councils, which speaks for all London boroughs, says councils facing immense finance pressures and challenges recruiting and retaining children’s social workers have agreed pan-London pay rates

They have also agreed not to use any agency candidates who left permanent posts elsewhere in the capital within the past six months.

Boroughs say this unprecedented level of collaboration will reduce competition between one another over children’s social care staff.

With boroughs also working more closely with agency suppliers of social workers, children’s services departments report they have better control of costs, as well as upholding high standards through more information sharing on references and improving retention rates.

There are around 5,600 children’s social workers in the capital and agency workers account for 22 percent of the workforce – the highest of any region in England.

The new policy aims to stabilise the workforce and bring important ben-

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efits to vulnerable children. Children have expressed frustration at frequent changes to their social workers. Minimising staff turnover will encourage long-term relationships with individual social workers leading to more trust and better outcomes for children and families.

The collaboration across the capital is part of a wider workforce programme led by the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services. Every London borough is sharing staffing and recruitment data transparently and contributing to a shared strategy aimed at reducing competition and improving the working environment for social workers.

Children’s social care represents a major finance pressure point for London boroughs including Newham which has made this a priority in its spending plans in the coming year. London Councils estimates that boroughs collectively overspend on their children’s social care budgets by around £200 million each year. Q