Surrey social care staff almost went on strike over caseloads, says Unison

Children’s social care staff at Surrey County Council were on the brink of taking industrial action last year due to excessive caseloads and a lack of management support, the public sector union Unison has claimed.

The union’s revelation comes in the wake of the Channel 4 Dispatches  programme, Undercover Social Worker, which exposed problems in the council’s massively overstretched children’s social care department.

The programme followed John, a seemingly inexperienced family support worker who was given responsibility for child protection cases, which should have been allocated to a fully qualified social worker.

Helga Pile, Unison’s national officer for social care, said severe workload and recruitment problems have troubled Surrey County Council for years. But she warned that many councils are similarly overstretched.

“Many of the problems that dog Surrey council highlighted in the programme are by no means unique to them,” she said. “There is a real shortage of qualified social workers and that means that newly qualified staff and support workers are often put on the frontline without the necessary experience or support needed to deal with complex child protection cases.”

Pile added that looming public sector cuts would put more children and young people at risk.

“Our social work members have been complaining for years about the overwhelming volume of paperwork and the frustration this causes was very evident in the filming,” she said.

“The programme also shows how young people are being failed because social workers simply do not have the resources to help them. Sadly, this problem may become even more severe with children and vulnerable adults put at risk because of the cuts in funding to public services.”

Andy Roberts, Surrey County Council’s strategic director for children, schools and families, said the Channel 4 programme recognised the extremely difficult work carried out by social work teams on a daily basis. But he claimed the council has been working continually to improve services over the past two years.

“This programme, filmed last year, did not uncover any weaknesses that we were not already aware of or that are not currently being dealt with,” he said.

“At the time of filming, this office was one of 11 area teams, which no longer exist. Following a restructure, which was completed in April, they have been replaced with new specialist teams dealing with child protection.”

Roberts added that the council has already addressed many of the management issues raised in the programme.

“We have taken action where staff have acted inappropriately and will continue to do so,” he explained. “Our concern now is that individuals filmed for the programme could be identified, leaving children, families and staff more vulnerable.”

Unison is now calling for new social workers to spend two years on the job before being given sole responsibility for child protection work. A recent Unison survey revealed that social workers want national standards for support at work, safer working conditions and more manageable caseloads.