The recruitment of children’s social workers in Yorkshire and Humber is receiving a major boost thanks to a campaign in which 15 councils have banded together to tackle negative perceptions about the job
H
aving to persuade local authorities to agree on a joint strategy sounds an onerous enough task: to suggest that 15 of them would fi nd common ground risks a response heavy with
cynicism and pessimism. 26 SOCIALWORKMATTERS MAY12
But 2010 proved a watershed year as the number of children’s social work cases across the country soared to record numbers. In Yorkshire and Humber alone, 74,000 children received social worker support and help. It was a caseload that councils acknowledged made unrealistic expectations of their social workers. So 15 of the region’s local authorities decided it was time to work together to ease the pressure and made plans for a concerted recruitment drive. Barely fi ve months after last October’s launch of the two-year Children’s Social Work Matters campaign, the councils reported an encouraging rise in job enquiries, with more than 200 CVs submitted. Some 27,000 people have visited