Councillor Warns of Social Work Recruitment Problems

A Councillor has called on Scottish ministers to examine an independent report – which states that local authorities are facing a projected £161million shortfall in children’s social work services – as a matter of urgency. Aberdeen City Council’s community services convener, Irene Cormack, said the situation would make it more difficult to recruit social workers and offer a high-quality service to vulnerable youngsters.

She wants MSPs to give serious consideration to Professor Arthur Midwinter’s report into the scale of the problem because she says pressures on the service have got worse in recent years.

Aberdeen was found to have a £10million shortfall in funding two years ago.

Prof Midwinter’s report has sparked fears the total shortfall figure will grow over the next year, putting pressure on councils to find even more money.

The report into Scottish Executive funding for children’s social work services was commissioned by the Association of Directors of Social Work. It states that, although the executive has adopted a pro-active approach to social work – in terms of setting national standards, promoting joint working and strengthening regulation – there has been an increase in the number of children in need of care.

Prof Midwinter, an expert in local government finance, says there has been an increase in care costs which has not been matched by the executive.

And plans to reduce the level of executive support in real terms for 2007-08 will cause the gap to widen further.

The executive’s spending plans, says Prof Midwinter, are based on wholly unrealistic assumptions on need and cost of provision, and additional resources are required urgently.

David Crawford, president of Association of Directors of Social Work, said last night: “We are gravely concerned by Midwinter’s findings and have provided the report to the communities minister and Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), to inform their discussions of the forthcoming comprehensive spending review.”

A Scottish Executive spokesman claimed the report ignored millions of pounds in non-grant-aided expenditure funding which the executive gives to councils to help vulnerable children and families.