Broken promise?: Scottish social workers' crisis puts at risk child protection revolution

One in four graduating social workers do not make it to six years in the job and were being pushed out by factors such as poor work-life balance, an overburden of administration tasks and high caseloads.

The study raises new concerns over whether the Scottish Government will be able deliver on a pledge to revolutionise the care of children and young people in Scotland and its plans to reform services as outlined in The Promise report by the Independent Care Review.

It comes as a separate analysis by The Promise Scotland Oversight Board found the lack of data on the deaths of children in care “heartbreaking”, saying the pledge made in 2020 was “more of a statement of commitment than a true implementation plan”.

Fifty-nine young people died between 2019 and the first nine months of 2021, the report found, comprising 17 children in care, seven in continuing care and 35 in throughcare and aftercare.

There was a rise in the number of deaths reported in 2019 and 2020, and a decrease in 2021, however the cause behind the change is unknown, as the report states “this is data on a group of people for whom no additional information is collected”.

SWS says that as the The Promise, recommendations for the National Care Service and a proposed National Social Work Agency are under discussion, "we want to inform conversations, and illustrate the ‘implementation gap’ between the policy aims of the Scottish Government and the reality of people’s experiences".

It added: "There are opportunities to make the changes needed, but we need to act now; we’re at a crucial tipping point."

The Setting the Bar analysis draws on existing evidence and two surveys, one of which was responded to by just over 1,500 social work professionals, nearly 25% of the 6,000 which work in the public sector.

While almost half of survey respondents selected high caseload as one of the least satisfying things about their work (47%), but high administrative workload (78%) and lack of time for preventative work (65%) were greater sources of dissatisfaction.

One social worker said: “My caseload has been increasingly unmanageable over the past few years. I constantly feel like I am fire-fighting and delivering a poor standard of practice. This has led to me feeling burnt out and taking time off sick."

The research found widespread variation in caseload sizes, from less than five to more than 50. In adult social work it the average caseload size is 27.6, for criminal justice it is 27.4 and for children and families it is 21.4.

SWS say that there should be a maximum indicative caseload for social workers - which they say is no different than specifying classroom numbers for teachers. And they say that there should be an agreement about the number of social workers Scotland needs to do the work.

The public services union Unison Scotland said the analysis came as no surprise and said cutting caseloads to a manageable and safe level was only part of the solution to a social work crisis. There was also a need for "robust" professional supervision and support.

Social Work Scotland said the experiences professionals shared shows that social work is facing "real challenges" in rising demand and a "lack of understanding of the profession", made worse by the pandemic, cuts to local authority budgets and increased administrative burdens.

"Holding rising caseloads, in a system which pushes social workers to operate in ways inconsistent with their professional values and judgement, has caused many of the respondents to experience ‘moral distress’," said an SWS spokesman.

"They came into the profession to empower and enable people, but are often only able to prevent further deterioration in someone’s situation; no one wins in such an environment.

"We’re at a critical point; we can’t afford to lose more social workers, and we must better support the workforce we have," said SWS. "From students and newly qualified practitioners to those experienced social work managers, leaders and para-professionals who provide support to those on the frontline. For this we will need to expand the profession’s capacity to build relationships with people requiring support or protection, and reinforce professional leadership roles at all levels.

"There are opportunities in a National Care Service, implementation of The Promise and Community Justice to really strengthen the profession, reinforcing social work’s values and unique contribution, from chief social work officers through to the social workers and paraprofessionals and administrative workers in frontline teams. However, these same drivers risk further fragmenting the profession..."

The Scottish Government's The Promise aims to create a better deal for children and young people to prevent them from needing local authority care.

It is a ten-year programme that will run until 2030 to implement action points in the 2020 Independent Care Review aimed at tackling a "fractured, bureaucratic and unfeeling" care system, in which young people’s voices are not sufficiently heard or valued.

The Promise reflected what over 5,500 care experienced children and adults, families and the paid and unpaid workforce told the review and outlined what Scotland must do to make sure its most vulnerable children feel loved and have the childhood they deserve.

A study by Unison Scotland found at the end of last year that almost three quarters (74%) said their teams do not have enough staff while nine in ten (90%) of those surveyed said resources determine placement decisions when a child becomes looked after.

Kate Ramsden, a children’s rights officer and member of the social work issues group of Unison Scotland said: “Heavy workloads are endemic across the workforce and staff shortages mean that work is being pushed down to less qualified and/or experienced staff. Many areas are seeing a high turnover of staff which impacts on building and maintaining relationships with clients.

“Significant changes are needed to give proper support instead of just ‘firefighting’. The Scottish Government needs to provide substantial investment to tackle a social work service that is in crisis.”

One of the many key elements was the creation of an independent oversight body “with at least 50 per cent of its members being care experienced including its chair".

An arms-length company called The Promise was created by ministers in March, last year to oversee the implementation and deliver changes by local authorities, the third sector, the regulatory bodies, and other key agencies.

Social care minister Kevin Stewart said: “A strong and well supported social work profession is key to delivering the aims set out in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care and The Promise and our commitment to set up a National Care Service within the current Parliamentary session.

“I understand and acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face, with increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all exacerbated by COVID.

“The Scottish Government’s investment of £25 million announced as part of the 2022/23 Budget is additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it.

“£22 million of this funding (which will be recurring) will be distributed to local authorities based on grant aided expenditure for adult social Work as agreed by COSLA [Convention of Scottish Local Authorities] leaders and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

“Enhanced wellbeing support services, backed by £5 million, are in place, including the National Wellbeing Hub. The Hub includes resources specifically for social workers and to support home working.

“In addition, the Scottish Association of Social Work has been given £200,000 in 2021-2023 to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues including wellbeing and resilience.”