SOCIAL workers are being assaulted at a rate of about three a week and some of their families have received death threats, Aberdeen councillors will be told next week

For the past year the number and nature of violent incidents affecting the social work department have been recorded to give a clearer indication of the seriousness of the problem.

When a staff member is subjected to violence he or she is offered counselling, if required, before filling in a form detailing the circumstances of the incident.

A social work report for the year showed that there were 239 instances of violence against the staff - 153 of them physical violence, 86 verbal, while the police were called following 49 of them.

''The actual nature of the incidents is diverse but ranges from verbal intimidation to obscenity to pushing, biting, kicking and punching. Threats of violence have been directed towards staff and their families including several death threats,'' the report reveals.

Aberdeen's assistant director of social work Dave Tumelty said such incidents were treated very seriously and explained that there had been cases in which clients had taken steps to track down social workers' home addresses to threaten them.

In a recent case a teenage boy received a telephoned death threat while his mother, the social worker, was out.

''It is to do with the work they are required to do,'' said Mr Tumelty. ''It is rare, it doesn't happen ever week, and it is largely connected to child protection issues.

''This is the first year we have run this kind of reporting system so there is nothing to compare with, but obviously the figure is far too high. When these things happen we take steps to try and ensure they don't happen again or to minimise the risks.''

Some staff have been issued with personal alarms and home telephone numbers have been changed.

''We also spend quite a lot of money training our staff how to deal with incidents like this,'' he said. ''The courses are very well attended.''