Proposed by Councillor Mark Johnston

Seconded by Councillor Pat Williams

The Council:

(1)  is firmly committed to safeguarding vulnerable children in our care. Council notes that, at present, almost 700 children are looked after in Wirral, and according to the Wirral Children and Young People’s Plan 2012-13, over 2,200 children have been allocated a social worker and around 360 have a child protection plan. Average caseloads for social workers in Wirral are between 25-30 children;

(2)  believes that one of the key ways to secure the best possible outcomes for these children is to affirm its commitment to maintaining a highly skilled, professional, well motivated and caring workforce and providing a working environment and terms and conditions in which they can consistently give their best;

(3)  In particular, welcomes the partnership work across Cheshire and Merseyside to deliver the 'Step up to Social Work' scheme to deliver Masters level social work training in Children's Social Care (Cabinet minute 198, 1^st September 2011 refers);

(4)  notes the recent extension of short term market rate supplement payments to Children's Social Care Posts to improve recruitment and retention, agreed at Employment and Appointments Committee 23rd April 2012 (minute 90 refers);

(5)  also notes that agreement to these payments is subject to the outcomes of job evaluation, which ought to be resolving these issues. Council expresses concern that the job evaluation process, as well as being years overdue, is also taking far longer than initially promised to staff and is concerned that confidence in the process could be undermined if these delays are allowed to continue and urges the Council Leader to explain the reasons for the delay;

(6)  believes that, in order to further demonstrate its commitment to valuing our safeguarding employees and attracting high quality new recruits, the organisation should ensure that terms and conditions of employment for these posts, including pay and grade, are competitive with those of neighbouring authorities for similar work in order to reduce turnover of social care staff. At present, minimum pay for social workers is, on average, 17% lower than for comparator authorities, with staff turnover at 9.2%, compared with 5% across the rest of the Council;

(7)  recognises that competitive terms and conditions and training can also help to minimise vacant posts and the need for expensive agency workers, but that agency fees are still a significant cost to the organisation, totalling £1.4m last year and expected to rise this year. In order to help to reduce this, the Acting Director of Children's Services is requested to investigate whether a peripatetic 'pool' of social workers across Cheshire and Wirral might be an innovative way of sharing some services to cover short staffed areas;

(8)  Further, Council requests that the Director of Children's Services consults with Wirral's Children's Social Care Workers, including, where possible, with those who have left the authority to work elsewhere, to establish whether there are any other factors that are leading social care workers to seek employment elsewhere; and

(9)  Council requests that responses to these matters be presented in a report to the Children and Young People OSC at the earliest opportunity.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7 (2)

Proposed by Councillor Ann McLachlan

Seconded by Councillor Phil Davies

Delete Paragraphs (5), (6), (7) & (8) and replace with the following, and paragraph (9) to become (10):

(5)  It is incorrect that market rate supplement payments have been delayed pending the outcome of the job evaluation exercise. Where applicable, market supplement rates have been paid to social workers who qualify for such a payment since June 2012. The job evaluation report is due towards the end of this year and will clarify the position with regard to salaries for our social work staff;

(6)  Council accepts the principle that social workers in Wirral should enjoy pay and conditions on a par with comparable authorities. However, this may have significant budgetary implications which should be clearly quantified and considered as part of the budget-making process;

(7)  Wirral has recently joined the “Learn together Partnership” and is committed to exploring all avenues including the idea of a shared pool of peripatetic workers as a way of increasing capacity and resources;

(8)  Wirral is working towards a significant reduction in the use of agency social workers and to that end has recently employed nine social workers on temporary contracts. This will begin the process of reducing agency staff costs; and

(9)  Exit interviews are undertaken for social work staff leaving the service of the Department and the Borough. Whilst any specific issues are addressed directly, the production of aggregate reports to capture trends/themes would be useful

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 7 (8) the Council did not debate this matter.

The amendment was put and carried (53:7) (one abstention)

The substantive motion was put and carried (53:7) (one abstention)

Resolved (53:7) (one abstention)-

The Council

(1)  is firmly committed to safeguarding vulnerable children in our care. Council notes that, at present, almost 700 children are looked after in Wirral, and according to the Wirral Children and Young People’s Plan 2012-13, over 2,200 children have been allocated a social worker and around 360 have a child protection plan. Average caseloads for social workers in Wirral are between 25-30 children;

(2)  believes that one of the key ways to secure the best possible outcomes for these children is to affirm its commitment to maintaining a highly skilled, professional, well motivated and caring workforce and providing a working environment and terms and conditions in which they can consistently give their best;

(3)  In particular, welcomes the partnership work across Cheshire and Merseyside to deliver the 'Step up to Social Work' scheme to deliver Masters level social work training in Children's Social Care (Cabinet minute 198, 1^st September 2011 refers);

(4)  notes the recent extension of short term market rate supplement payments to Children's Social Care Posts to improve recruitment and retention, agreed at Employment and Appointments Committee 23rd April 2012 (minute 90 refers);

(5)  notes that it was incorrect that market rate supplement payments have been delayed pending the outcome of the job evaluation exercise. Where applicable, market supplement rates have been paid to social workers who qualify for such a payment since June 2012. The job evaluation report is due towards the end of this year and will clarify the position with regard to salaries for our social work staff;

(6)  accepts the principle that social workers in Wirral should enjoy ay and conditions on a par with comparable authorities. However, this may have significant budgetary implications which should be clearly quantified and considered as part of the budget-making process;

(7)  notes that Wirral has recently joined the “Learn together Partnership” and is committed to exploring all avenues including the idea of a shared pool of peripatetic workers as a way of increasing capacity and resources;

(8)  notes that Wirral is working towards a significant reduction in the use of agency social workers and to that end has recently employed nine social workers on temporary contracts. This will begin the process of reducing agency staff costs;

(9)  notes that Exit interviews are undertaken for social work staff leaving the service of the Department and the Borough. Whilst any specific issues are addressed directly, the production of aggregate reports to capture trends/themes would be useful; and

(10)  requests that responses to these matters be presented in a report to the Children and Young People OSC at the earliest opportunity.