Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on children’s social services of long-term use of agency staff.

The department works closely with local authorities to understand their workforce pressures and where we can help. So far, local authorities have been able to manage absences well, but we continue to plan for possible future pressures. The use of agency staff can help local authorities to deal with short-term recruitment needs, fluctuations in demand or to support improvement to maintain an appropriate level of social care services for children and families. However, while agency rates have remained relatively stable over recent years, they remain high and are a concern across the sector because of the impact on children’s outcomes and unsustainable costs. As of 30 September 2020, there were 5,800 full time equivalent agency children and family social workers employed by local authorities in England, the same as the previous year. The statistics for 2021 will be published on 24 February 2022.

The quality of the work environment is the key to recruitment and retention, including effective professional supervision, wider support and caseload levels. Our reforms seek to address a number of these points directly. We are supporting the recruitment and retention of social workers through our investment in the fast track and professional development programmes to improve leadership. We are also seeing some innovative practices from local authorities that are driving down agency rates and stabilising their workforces. We are continuing to work with local authorities on this challenge both nationally and regionally, so we can share best practice across the sector to build a resilient and stable workforce.

Our COVID-19 recovery action plan aims to stabilise and strengthen children’s social care as we transition out of the COVID-19 outbreak, so we deliver well for children and young people and provide a strong foundation for longer-term reform, informed by the Care Review.