People join the social work profession because they want to make a positive difference to the lives of children, families and individuals across society.
However, for social work to deliver meaningful change, we must start by ensuring the correct number of social workers are in the correct roles.
If the workforce is to remain healthy, practitioners require supportive, reflective supervision, and manageable caseloads.
For social workers to meet need in the face of ever more complex scenarios, they must have protected time to engage in training and continuous professional development.
To fulfil these asks, social work across all sectors in Northern Ireland requires a statutory framework to deliver safe staffing.
On 8 October 2024, the Minister of Health addressed the NI Assembly, explaining the number of social workers being trained each year in Northern Ireland has increased to 325, up from 260 in 2020. However, what wasn’t mentioned was that in 2011 training places were reduced from 300 to 260.
In effect, social work training places have increased by only 8% since 2011.
While social work is a diverse profession, with social workers supporting people across a wide range of programmes of care, children and families social workers make up the single largest group within the profession. The 2024 HSC workforce census indicates 44% of statutory sector social workers practice in this area.
The number of children looked after by social services is the highest on record since the introduction of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Provisional statistics for September 2024 published by the Department of Health indicate there are now 4,137 children in care. In 2011 the number was 2,511.
The 8% uplift in the number of social workers trained annually since 2011 must therefore be considered in the context of a 65% increase in the number of children in care over the same period.
What’s more, the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland (BASW NI) anticipates the need for hundreds of additional social workers to provide services associated with the implementation of recent and forthcoming legislation. We need extra staff to support the further roll–out of primary care multi–disciplinary teams, and to meet growing demand for services associated with changing demography, increasing poverty and an ageing population.
Broadly supportive of the general approach outlined in the recent consultation on Safe and Effective Staffing Legislation, BASW NI agreed with the proposal to introduce a legal requirement on the Department of Health to apply evidence–based strategic workforce planning to produce a single, overarching Health and Social Care workforce plan. In turn, this strategic plan should integrate with legally mandated operational workforce plans produced by the Health and Social Care Trusts and other employers.
There should be a legislative requirement on the Department to carry out workforce reviews every ten years and interim evaluations every three years. A duty should be placed upon the Minister of Health to annually review the commissioning of social work training places by the Department, and the associated financial support provided.
BASW NI believes a statutory duty ought also to require the Department, and Health and Social Care Trusts, to utilise common staffing methods for social work, and safe staffing should become a condition for the commissioning of services from the voluntary and community sectors.
Finally, a legislative requirement should be placed on the Department to report annually to the NI Assembly detailing whether it is compliant with its workforce planning duties.
It needs to be recognised, however, that public service austerity has driven social work services to breaking point and legislative reform concerning safe staffing must be accompanied by financial investment. One will not be effective without the other.
While the move towards safe staffing legislation certainly indicates a willingness to address the recruitment and retention problems facing the profession, a key issue which goes unmentioned by the Department of Health concerns the pressures facing students training to become social workers and the need to better retain this incredibly important cohort.
Currently, under the Social Work Student Incentive Scheme, eligible student social workers in Northern Ireland receive an annual payment of £4,000 and an allowance of £500 towards travel costs associated with practice placements. While it is unclear when the amount paid under the scheme last increased, BASW NI understands it has been in operation at its present level since at least 2008. Over the last decade and a half, the impact of inflation has significantly reduced the real terms value of the financial support provided to social work students, and uplifts in support for nursing and allied health profession students have been awarded.
In May 2024, BASW NI and the Social Workers Union (SWU) jointly published research highlighting the financial circumstances of social work students in Northern Ireland.
The findings outlined in the report highlight that for nearly all social work students (98%), the annual payment is not sufficient to meet the costs associated with completing the Degree in Social Work. Three–quarters (73%) are unable to make ends meet or are struggling to do so.
Students who have caring responsibilities (55%) in addition to their social work studies are suffering even more acutely.
While BASW NI acknowledges the demands on the Department of Health budget, the Association highlights the importance of improving support for student social workers as part of the Department’s wider efforts concerning retention and recruitment of staff. The financial situation is so severe that almost a quarter of social work students (23%) are considering leaving their studies because of the pressures they are facing.
For every student unable to complete their studies there is not only the loss of that individual’s ability to meet the needs of service users, but also the loss of the funding provided by the Department in the form of Student Incentive Scheme payments and resources provided to fund the student’s training place.
It is vital that the Minister for Health reviews the Social Work Student Incentive Scheme to ease the severe pressures currently facing social work students and BASW NI and SWU have called for an uplift in the Social Work Student Incentive Scheme to £7,000 per year. To ensure the sustainability of the social work workforce, this must be advanced as a key aspect of the Department’s plans to introduce safe and effective staffing in social work.
Carolyn Ewart, British Association of Social Workers, Northern Ireland National Director.
