Assessing the effectiveness of policy interventions to reduce the use of agency or temporary social workers in England

Abstract

There has been growing concern that English local authorities are over reliant on temporary staff to meet the shortage of social workers. This has been criticised as inefficient and costly while leading to problems of continuity and consistency for people using social work services. Focussing on recent policy and the implementation of new administrative procedures for the procurement and management of temporary or agency staff, this article explores progress being made towards achieving the previous government's policy goal that by 2020 local authorities will no longer need to rely on agency workers to carry out tasks that would normally be carried out by a permanent social worker. The article draws on the findings of an exploratory study (2007-2010) commissioned by the Department of Health which comprised of the following: a survey of local councils in England with adult social services responsibilities; case studies in three different localities; and qualitative interviews with stakeholders (n = 93). The findings suggest that while local authorities have reduced the costs of employing temporary staff through the setting up of intermediary control mechanisms, agency social workers continue to play important roles in teams and services.

Client organizations and the management of professional agency work: The case of English health and social care

“…Perhaps unsurprisingly, this greatly increased use of agency nurses and qualified social workers in core service roles has led to growing concerns about both rising TWA fees and potentially negative consequences for service quality (Cornes et al, ). To address these concerns, there have been calls to re‐evaluate the treatment of agency workers once in role.…”

“…Under ideal conditions, one might expect such roles to be staffed using standard permanent employment contracts (Lepak & Snell, ). However, as discussed below, largely as a result of powerful supply‐side pressures, employers in both instances have increasingly had to rely on TWAs to fill these positions (Cornes, Manthorpe, Moriarty, Blendi‐Mahota, & Hussein, ). As such, these cases are illustrative of high‐risk situations where, in theory at least, there is a greater incentive for client organizations to invest in the HR management of agency workers.…”

Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked‐after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

“…It is increasingly acknowledged that the needs that bring children into the care system impact on their outcomes (Stein 2006;Forrester et al 2009). Furthermore, achieving consistency of key worker remains a challenge across health and social care services (see Haggerty et al 2003) and recruitment and retention difficulties, whilst reducing, have not been confined to children's services (Cornes et al 2013).…”

“…) and recruitment and retention difficulties, whilst reducing, have not been confined to children's services (Cornes et al . ).…”

Outsourcing the procurement of agency workers: the impact of vendor managed services in English social care

“…Indeed, the vacancy rate in social care is double that for all types of industrial, commercial and public employment (TUC, 2007), and is higher than for secondary school teachers and qualified nurses. Given this, it is perhaps unsurprising that 80 per cent of English local authorities are using agency workers mainly because of difficulties in recruiting permanent staff (Cornes et al, 2010). Such trends have been exacerbated by the pull of agency contracts (especially for qualified social workers who can achieve higher pay and mobility) meaning that for many, local authorities no longer represent employers of choice (see Carey, 2007; Kirkpatrick and Hoque, 2006).…”