Social worker crisis: special report

Too few social workers means less help for families in need

A shortage of social workers is being aggravated by the number of current staff wanting to leave. Social Affairs Correspondent Chris Hogg investigates the impact of a recruitment crisis on the profession.

There are not enough social workers and many of those currently in the profession do not want to stay, according to research published this week by the heads of social services departments.

The government has announced an ambitious target - to double the number of people training in social work by 2004.

But the annual publication of performance indicators for social services has shown wide variations in the quality of care they provide.

So will the new campaign to persuade people to become social workers make any difference?

Jacqui Smith, the Minister of State with responsibility for social services at the Department of Health, says that although pay is important, the image is also putting people off.

Ready to quit

Bad publicity surrounding child deaths like those of Victoria Climbie and Lauren Wright only hit recruitment even harder.

So what impact is the recruitment crisis having on the work they do?

PM was given exclusive access to Norfolk social services, a department recovering from an onslaught of bad publicity over the Lauren Wright case.

Chris Hogg spent a day with a social worker on the children and families team, and a night with the department's emergency out-of-hours team.

Click on the audio links above right to listen to his reports.