Social workers to come from overseas to reduce strain on Children's Services

And with over 170 agency social workers currently employed by the Council, that means over £2m a month is being spent overcoming the shortage in Council social workers.

One councillor said a number of overseas workers would be in post by April to try and reduce the “breath-taking” costs.

The spiralling overspend of Bradford’s Children’s Services were discussed at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on Tuesday.

This financial year, the department is predicted to overspend by £43 million.

At the meeting, Council bosses were given an update on the authority’s current financial position.

A report to members said two of the biggest pressures to Children’s Services was the high cost of agency social workers – hired to deal with the shortage in qualified social workers wanting to work in the district, and out of Council placements for children in care – which cost on average £270,000 a year.

At the meeting, officers said the financial position of the Council was overall improved compared to a few months ago.

However the predicted Children’s Service overspend had risen from a predicted £33m a few months ago to £43m.

Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) acknowledged that many Councils across the country were facing financial struggles, but said the issue with Children’s Services was very much a Bradford problem.

Councillor Mike Pollard (Image: newsquest)

He said: “The overspend in this area is dreadful. Two areas stand out.

“The increased number of children in external residential placements – that has shown a further increase of 30 placements at a quarter of a million a piece on average.

“The other issue is the fact that we employ 174 agency social workers in social care. I understand why, but the cost of these agency workers is breath-taking.”

The report to members said the Council was paying £2 million a month for agency social workers.

Cllr Pollard added: “If we’re spending £2m a month on 174 workers than by my calculations that is over £11,000 a month per worker.”

Next year a Children’s Trust will take over the running of Bradford Children’s Services – which was judged inadequate in 2018 and has failed to improve at a fast enough pace since.

Bradford Council will have to fund the Trust – which will set its own budget.

Cllr Pollard pointed out that this Trust would be drawing up its budget for next year soon, and he fears that they will take into account the eye-watering costs currently experienced by the department.

He said: “This makes the financial problem very, very significant. Financially I don’t see that we have a sustainable plan.”

Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe pointed out that the costs in Children’s Services were unavoidable, adding: “If a child needs a placement we have a moral and legal obligation to place them regardless of the financial cost.”

She said the agency care workers were also needed to make up the shortfall for social workers in the Council.

She urged Government to act on the high costs of agency staff and placements offered by private providers, who can charge councils huge amounts to house vulnerable children.

Referring to Cllr Pollard’s fear that there was no plan in place to reduce agency social work costs, Councillor Sue Duffey, Executive member for Children and Families, said: “There is a plan.

“We’re looking to get more overseas social workers by the end of the financial year.

“But all these changes take time. Overseas workers will need time to get familiar with our processes and practices.

“The problems are all predominately something the Government could help with.”

She pointed out that with agencies able to charge so much for staff, many potential social workers were opting to work for these companies rather than local authorities.

Cllr Duffy added: “If you can get more money by going to work for an agency then you’re going to do that. They can often get quadruple the amount of money working for an agency than working for a Council.

“We do have a plan that we are moving forward, but without additional support from Government we will be in a crisis for a long, long time.”

A report to the Executive had said a cohort of 20 overseas social workers were expected to be in Bradford by the end of January.