Agency workers fill more than nine in 10 children's social care vacancies in Wigan

Children's social work charity Frontline said the record use of agency workers across England – which were used to fill more vacancies than in any year since records began in 2017 – is "a symptom of the recruitment and retention crisis" in the workforce.

Department for Education figures show there were 66.8 full-time-equivalent agency workers in children's social care services in Wigan as of 30 September 2023 – up from 65 the year before.

The figures also showed the local authority had vacancies equivalent to 51 full-time staff last year, 48 of which agency workers covered.

Nationally, the number of agency workers reached a record high in 2023 at 7,174 FTE.

Of these, 5,744 were used to fill new vacancies, also a record high. This meant 74.4 per cent of vacancies were covered by agency workers last year, also the highest figure on record.

Frontline said the figures reflect what it has heard from social workers for some time.

A spokesperson added: "The use of additional agency support and subsequent expenditure associated with this is, without a doubt, a symptom of the recruitment and retention crisis we are seeing in children's social care across the country.

"Agency hires can help meet temporary demand for social workers, but when used to fill a long-term shortfall in staffing, they can cause significant financial strain on councils."

Meanwhile, separate figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show spending on children’s social work services across the country has exploded in recent years, from £8.8bn in 2017-18 to £12.8bn in 2022-23.

Wigan spent £80.8m in 2022-23 – a rise of 67 per cent from five years earlier.

Colette Dutton, director of children’s services at Wigan Council said: “Our social workers provide a vital service, keeping children, vulnerable adults and families safe.

“It’s no secret that there is a national shortage of social workers which has led to an increase in agencies and fees.

“To ensure we offer value for money to our residents while attracting new talent and retaining staff, we developed our Care to Join us recruitment and retention campaign. The campaign has attracted a significant number of new social workers and our proactive approach received national recognition when it won the Local Government Chronicle Award for Innovation.

“We now have an over 80% permanent work force in children’s social care, much improved from a position of 50% in 2020 and as of July 2023 no longer have a reliance on the additionality of agency managed teams. For those vacancies we do have it is critical that they are covered to ensure that caseloads remain manageable and the good quality of our social work intervention remains.”

Only one area (Ealing) spent less on services last year than in 2017-18, while eight local authorities saw their spending more than double, including Herefordshire, which almost trebled.

The Department for Education said there are now more social workers employed across the country, with a record number of new starters.

A spokesperson added: "Our investment in recruitment and training of child and family social workers and the hard work of local authorities is generating positive results.

"We will continue to work together to address the overreliance on agency staff, while supporting councils to increase their own provision and reduce reliance on the private sector, through £259m in capital funding over the current spending period.

"More widely, we are reforming children's social care, with plans backed by £200m to test and refine our approach."