London boroughs collaborate to end "bidding wars" over social workers

London Councils has revealed that children’s social care departments in the capital have agreed measures including pan-London pay rates and a policy of not using agency candidates who left permanent posts elsewhere in London within the past six months, in a bid to avoid the rising costs of agency staff and "bidding wars" over social workers.

The move comes shortly after the Government launched a consultation seeking views on the introduction of a set of national rules on the engagement of agency social work resource.

The Department for Education consultation has invited views on:

• price caps on what local authorities may pay for an agency worker
• post-qualified experience needed for an agency assignment
• use of project teams
• references, notice periods, and movement between agency and substantive roles
• collection and sharing of pay and agency data
• adherence of procurement routes with the national rules

London Councils said that there are around 5,600 children’s social workers in the capital and agency workers account for 22% of the workforce – the highest of any region in England.

Boroughs have highlighted that stabilising the workforce will bring “important benefits to the vulnerable children supported by these services”.

London Councils stated that children have expressed “frustration at frequent changes to their social workers,” and that minimising staff turnover and providing long-term relationships with individual social workers “encourages trust and produces much better outcomes for children and families”.

The group added that the agreed measures were in the face of “immense finance pressures” and challenges recruiting and retaining children’s social workers.

The collaboration across the capital is part of a wider workforce programme led by the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services.

Every London borough is sharing staffing and recruitment data transparently and contributing to a shared strategy aimed at reducing competition and improving the working environment for social workers, London Councils claimed.

A formal London Pledge was launched in June 2022, with almost all boroughs committed to its protocols. "However, London boroughs warn there remains unhelpful competition over children’s social worker recruitment with local authorities outside the capital. Boroughs believe closer collaboration between councils is needed at a national level and welcome the opportunity to contribute to the government’s consultation on these issues," London Councils said.

Cllr Ian Edwards, London Councils’ Executive Member for Children & Young People, said: “When it comes to children’s social care workforce strategies, replacing competition with collaboration will bring big benefits to boroughs and our staff – but most importantly to the vulnerable children we work with.

“The London Pledge is an important step forward. Although it only started six months ago, we are already seeing some improvements, and we are keen to investigate the potential for more collaboration across the country. London boroughs firmly believe this collegiate approach will bring much-needed stability and improve results for everyone.”

The DfE's consultation on national rules on the engagement of agency social work resource in local authority children’s social care includes eight proposals:

1. A requirement that all procurement routes used by LAs to engage agency social workers must adhere to the national rules.
2. The introduction of national price caps on what local authorities may pay per hour for an agency social worker.
3. A requirement for social workers who graduated in or after April 2024 to demonstrate a minimum of five years post-qualified experience working within LA children’s social care and completion of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) in order to qualify for an agency appointment.
4. No longer using “managed service”/“project” teams for child and family social work.
5. A requirement for employers to request and provide references for all agency social worker candidates.
6. Not engaging agency workers for a period of three months after they have left a substantive role within the same region (excluding certain exceptions).
7. A requirement of a minimum of a six-week notice period for agency social workers via a reciprocal arrangement between agency workers and LAs. To minimise immediate or quick departures and the associated impact on children and families and the wider workforce.
8. The collection and sharing of core agency and pay data, to support better workforce planning and the ability to monitor, enforce and assess the impact of the proposals.

The Department for Education said there was “significant learning” from environments such as the NHS around the introductions of price caps which “we will build on as well as the experience of LAs and regions who have introduced price caps”.

It noted that the current situation is leading to “price inflation, increasingly unsustainable costs for LAs and the public purse, and workforce churn and instability”.

The DfE's Child and Family Social Worker Workforce consultation opened on 2 February and will close on 11 May.

The consultation was published alongside ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, a proposed Children’s Social Care Implementation Strategy aimed at transforming the current care system to focus on the provision of more early support for families.

The measures would see families receive local early help and intervention with challenges such as addiction, domestic abuse or mental health, to help families "to stay together where possible and overcome adversity", the Government revealed.

Lottie Winson