Campaign Launched To Find New Social Workers

A campaign has been launched to recruit thousands of professionals to work in child social care. Introduced by the Local Government Association (LGA), the campaign highlights the concerns of council leaders following the case of Baby P and the likelihood of child abuse cases being missed as a result of people leaving the care profession.

A new report from the organisation shows that ten per cent of child social worker positions are vacant at any one time [in the UK], while 5,500 child social workers are agency staff.

Margaret Eaton, Chair of the LGA, said that the council faces real difficulties when it comes to recruiting child social workers of a high calibre.

She commented: ‘In the short term we must encourage up to 5,000 recently retired child social work professionals back to the front line to help keep children safe.’

The LGA was set up in 1997 to speak on behalf of local government at a national level.