NEARLY one in five posts for social workers who deal with children and families in Warrington were vacant last autumn, figures have revealed.

New statistics produced by the Department for Education show 29 vacancies in the roles protecting children, which amounted to 19.1 per cent of the full-time workforce.

The council had agency workers covering 19 of the vacancies.

It has the equivalent of 122 full-time staff, with some full-time posts shared by part-time workers.

In the 12 months to September last year the staff turnover rate – the proportion of the full-time workforce that left – totalled 6.9 per cent.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) continues to raise concerns over vacancy rates.

Maris Stratulis, the England Manager of the BASW, said: "The pressures on children's social workers are at times untenable as they are given unmanageable caseloads, work well over their hours and inevitably carry the stress of something going wrong on their caseload.

"There may well also be a strong correlation between local authorities that have had a bad Ofsted as this can seriously lower morale among the workforce as the blame culture can be pernicious feeding the vicious cycle."

The council said that Ofsted's latest inspection of Warrington's children's services 'reinforced a very positive turnaround of the situation last year'.

It increased its 'social work establishment' by 12 social workers in specific frontline teams 'to support a reduction in caseloads'.

And it now offers a market supplement and incentive scheme for workers 'in the most difficult to recruit and retain teams', as well as protected caseloads for staff in their first year of practice.

In its report, Ofsted said there has been a reduction in the number of social work vacancies and reliance on agency staff 'through implementation of a revised recruitment and retention strategy'.

It added: "This is an improving picture and staff seen during this visit were positive about working for the local authority, knew their cases well and felt supported by their managers.

"This includes a significant number of staff in their assessed and supported year in employment who feel well supported.

"Caseloads are manageable and this enables social workers to respond to children's needs through regular visits and direct work.

"Children experiencing neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse receive a wide range of targeted support to identify need and ensure that they are helped and protected."