The Assistant Director for Children and Families presented a report on behalf of the Director of Children, Families and Education with an updated version  of the Children’s Social Care Workforce Strategy 2022-2025. The Strategy set out the local authority’s strategy and plans for developing and supporting the social care workforce over the remainder of its course. It outlined five priorities to attract, retain and support the development of a stable, talented, and committed workforce which had the skills, knowledge and motivation to improve children’s lives. These priorities were:

·  Priority 1: ‘Growing our own’ through recruitment and development

·  Priority 2: Support Continuous Professional Development to deliver a motivated and skilled workforce, with an emphasis on supporting staff retention

·  Priority 3: Develop high performing social work managers that support a performance management framework that reflects ‘high support high challenge’

·  Priority 4: Develop new and revised ways of working building on existing strengths to support children, young people and their families

·  Priority 5: Communication and change management

Underpinning those priorities was a commitment to developing a healthy working environment that supported a positive emotional health and wellbeing amongst the Council workforce and enabled Wirral Council to be an employer of choice in children’s social care services.

The Assisant Director for Children and Families provided Members with a simplified data set from that in the report, this data showed the number of starters, leavers and the net change in staff numbers of the past three years for Advanced Practitioners, Social Workers and Assessed abd Suppoered Year in Employment staff.

Members discussed the need for more foster carers across Wirral. Officers noted that it had been a constant challenge to recruit and retain foster carers but that this had improved and work was still underway to improve this further.

Members discussed the Yonder programme and the advantages it would offer to both the authority and agency social workers as a not-for-profit recruitment agency. The Director of Children, Families and Education suggested inviting Yonder to speak to Members directly.

Members raised the environmental impact of social work as there was still a requirement for face to face visits that necessitated travel. Officers noted that face to face visits were always likely to be needed but that there had been an increase in on-line meetings for those that were happy to meet in this way which would decrease the environmental impact of meetings.

Resolved – That

1. The progress made to date on the Social Care Workforce Strategy 2022-2025 be endorsed; and

2. A further update on progress at a future date be agreed.