No agency social workers used in statutory services in Northern Ireland since September 2023

No agency social workers have been used in Northern Ireland’s health and social care (HSC) trusts since September 2023, the region’s health minister has said.

Mike Nesbitt hailed the success of a ban – introduced in June 2023 – on the five trusts using locum social workers in their services, in response to a question on the issue in the Northern Ireland Assembly this week.

The ban, introduced by Nesbitt’s predecessor, Robin Swann, was designed to cut costs, reduce pressures on permanent staff and ensure a more consistent service for people drawing on social care in the region.

To facilitate the measure, all locums working for trusts at the time of the ban were offered permanent contracts.

160 agency staff went permanent

Nesbitt told the assembly that 160 former agency workers took up this opportunity in 2023, while the trusts’ workforces have since by the engagement of 204 newly qualified social workers in autumn 2023 and a further 221 last year.

“The net effect of the [Department of Health], stakeholders and the HSC trusts working together over the past two years has been the trusts’ complete cessation of agency social worker usage, the direct recruitment of 160 former agency social workers into HSC contracts and the recruitment of almost 430 newly qualified social workers into HSC vacancies.”

Latest figures show that the vacancy rate for social workers in the trusts was 3.3% in September 2024, down from 10.2% in March 2023.

BASW NI warns of rising pressures

However, while welcoming the development, the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland (BASW NI) warned social workers were facing increasing pressures on the back of rising demand for services.

Following a meeting with Nesbitt, BASW NI chair Professor Davy Hayes said that HSC leaders had indicated that gateway (front door), family intervention and looked after children’s teams were facing vacancy rates of up to 40%.

“I stressed to the minister the urgent need for improved support to retain social workers in frontline child protection roles, posts that are consistently among the hardest to fill,” Hayes added.

Hayes said he urged Nesbitt to press ahead with planned legislation on safe staffing levels across health and social care and with the implementation of the Independent Review of Northern Ireland’s Children’s Social Care Services, which reported in 2023.

Implementation of children’s social care reforms

Led by Professor Ray Jones, this called for a single region-wide agency to take responsibility for children’s services, a shift away from a focus on child protection and a greater mix of skills within teams.

Nesbitt has accepted 34 of the review’s 53 recommendations, with a further 10 still under consideration, including the creation of a single agency and a minister for children’s post.

A children’s social care strategic reform programme is taking forward 27 of the recommendations.