On the same day that Baby P’s Mother and Stepfather received their sentences, Haringey’s council announced an overhaul of its children social services with an aim to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by 2012.

The three year program will guarantee qualified social workers more balanced workloads and better support. New and more user friendly IT systems will be implemented and an increase in better qualified staff will be permanently hired.

With a £4.2m budget already approved for this year, the council will launch a children’s trust campaign next month to bring together schools, social services and the police in order to improve communication and the quality of its social services to achieve by the end of this year a “satisfactory” rating from the children’s services inspectorate Ofsted.

But the biggest problem the borough is facing is the lack of qualified social workers willing to work in the area after Baby P’s scandal. In January, the borough made an urgent appeal to all London councils to lend qualified social workers to ease the recruitment. With the appeal been largely rejected, children’s social directors said they would consider a rescue package to ease the pressure on The Haringey’s Council.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy ending, but Baby P’s story finally came to an end with the trial and sentence of mother and boyfriend who were responsible for one of the worst cases of sadistic brutality and sordid child neglect ever to be reported in the UK.

It’s been nearly two years since the 17 months toddler died due to repeated violent physical abuse and only now, Baby P’s mother and her boyfriend were finally sentenced.

The mother was sentenced with another 644 days in solitary confinement for her own protection and the boyfriend person who Baby P referred as “dad” was sentenced for 12 years for causing or allowing Peter’s death; earlier in the month he had been convicted for the rape of a two year girl and will spend the rest of his days in jail for that crime.

This sickening story caused a hike in qualified social workers salaries, not only in Haringey’s Council but across the UK due to the lack of qualified social workers willing to take on this challenging, stressful job.

Councils and the government are trying their best to incite qualified and independent social workers to go back to their jobs. Good salaries, especial benefits, relocation allowances and even pre-approved mortgages are on the list of privileges offered.

Ensuring a qualified social worker is handling such cases is certainly a must for the future, and increasing the amount of qualified social workers employed should also be questioned to prevent other cases from slipping through the system?

What can be done to prevent appalling cases of prolonged child neglect and abuse, as in Baby P’s case, from occurring again?

The stories surrounding ‘Baby P’ continue to make the headlines of Britain’s most popular newspapers, this past week a new round of shocking facts emerged that makes the case even more disturbing.

The Haringey Council sacked five more social workers who failed to protect the 17-month old boy. Baby P’s social worker Maria Ward, Team Manager Gillie Christou, Head of Safeguarding Children Clive Preece, Head of Children’s Services Sharon Shoesmith and a fourth official Cicilia Hitchen, were all  dismissed without any payouts.

Another shocking fact revealed this past week is that Baby P’s mother could have her sentence reduced by a third because she admitted to her part in his death. This is known as a guilty plea – if someone accused of a crime confesses their sentence is cut by a third.

All these facts and much more have created serious problems for Haringeys Council Social Services and has forced the Council to offer inflated salaries in the hope of finding qualified social workers to work in the area.

The highest salary on offer at present is for a Locum Team Manager advertised at £68,000 a year for Haringey’s Children in Need Safeguarding Service. Several perks will be offered in addition to the salary including a £7,000 relocation allowance, season ticket loan, ‘gold-plated’ local government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, a mobile phone and a pre-approved loan of up to £50,000 towards buying a property.

For junior social workers posts the Borough is offering a nation’s high of £38,000, while the national average is around £18,000 rising to £30,000 for team leaders according to the Government’s website ww.socialworkcareers.co.uk

The national shortage of qualified social workers continues, scared off by being under fire in the media when a case ends in tragedy, hence the Baby P and Brandon Muir cases, social workers are finding quieter areas to work where they are not as exposed.

With children’s social work all over the news, it is harder than ever to recruit social workers for this specialised area. In total there are 1.2 million social workers in the UK but another 13,000 social workers are needed urgently; the demand is higher than ever for people that are willing to take on this challenging but rewarding job.

Despite the bad press in recent years, children’s social work is a fulfilling career, making a difference in a child life is priceless.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect about social work is that every day is different, social workers face different challenges day in and day out, the unpredictability of this field and not knowing what social workers may face in the day ahead can be an exciting task.

If you ask any qualified social worker working in child protection what is the highest point of their career, I can guarantee 100% will say being able to see a child’s life change for the better before their eyes.

Little things like a child telling you they feel safe and happy, their confidence and self esteem is growing and feeling they are important enough for someone to care about them is extremely rewarding, no money in the world can buy this feeling of accomplishment from knowing you made a difference in a child’s life.

If you are a qualified social worker who has worked in the child protection area before, please consider working in the area again – there are thousands of children in need of your assistance. For more information contact Restart Resources.

Our last post reported on the government launching a campaign to encourage retired qualified social workers to go back to social work.

To aid the government campaign, social work agencies across the country started to go through their databases and send out letters and emails to retired but qualified social workers.

Barbara MaCarthur, an 82 year old who retired from social work in 1982 received one of these letters asking her to return to the profession. Macarthur is aware of the lack of social workers in the UK said:

“I knew they were desperate for social workers, but I didn’t think they were this desperate!”

The social work agency who sent Mrs. Macarthur the letters said that they were not aware of her age and the problem occurred because they used a database of previous employees to send out emails and letters.

There are many positions to be filled in the social care area, if you know any friends who are qualified social workers or you are one of those qualified social workers looking for work do not hesitate to contact Restart Resources.

As awkward as this title might sound, the campaign is for real and is happening right here in the UK.

At the beginning of the month, the government launched a campaign to lure retired social workers back to their jobs due to the lack of qualified social workers and the struggle of local councils to recruit social workers.

A report from the Local Government Association (LGA) called Respect and Protect revealed that 1 in 10 social worker jobs remained empty and 89% of councils had reported difficulties with social workers recruitment.

As councils across the country are having a hard time to recruit and retain social workers in their jobs, the government launched this campaign as a short term measure to try and encourage up to 5,000 retired qualified social workers to go back to social work.

Alan Warner lead officer for communications at the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) said:

“Social recruitment and retention problems had been exacerbated by the negative publicity surrounding the death of Baby P, which had caused the public to lose respect for social workers, the public at large need to get behind social workers and support them.”

And added:

“We need to give people respect for what they do. If there is no respect then why would anyone want to do it?”

And concluded:

“There needs to be more information made available to the general public about what social workers do, and perhaps national awards to recognise achievements. There is no overnight fix for this; we just need a more balanced approach.”

Continuing from where we left on our last post, in this post you’ll find detailed information of what qualifications are required to become a social worker in the UK.

To become a social worker you will need to study for an honours degree or a postgraduate degree in social work, the course must be approved by the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

To get on an honours degree you will need at least five GCSEs (A-C) including English and Math and at least two A levels or equivalent such as a BTEC National Diploma or NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care.

Some colleges and universities may also grant access to students with a Higher Education qualification or relevant work experience, so it is best to check with them what qualifications are required.

When you apply for a course you’ll also need to pass a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) background check.

Honours degrees in social work are 3 year full time courses, there are some part-time and distance learning courses but you can only do these courses if you are already working in the social area and have with the support of your employer.

For the full time courses, your time will be divided between classes and supervised work placements that will train you to work with a wide range of service user groups as well as prepare you to offer a comprehensive range of experience to employers when you start work.

In case you already have a degree, you may only do a two-year postgraduate degree in social work instead of three years. After completing your honours degree or postgraduate degree you must register with the GSCC, visit their site for detailed information about how to register.

GSCC is also the commission that approves all full-time, part-time and distance learning courses in the UK, with the exception of the Northern Ireland that has its own Social Care Commission, the NISCC (Northern Ireland Social Care Community).