By James Simons-
Social workers in Kirklees have voted to strike, following a dispute with the council over working conditions.
The children’s services branch in Unison branch will strike on January 27 after 79% voted for the strike on a ballot.
The strike is a blow to the system, already suffering severe problems due to heavy case load, negligent and incompetent staff in some cases, compounded by drug use in many cases.
The union claim the strike is over a “long-running” dispute over pay, unmanageable case loads, the council’s IT system, bullying, working environments and high dependency on agency staff.
Bullying is a shocking issue, not commonly heard of in social services, presumably kept under wraps by those imposing the bullying.
Kirkless Social Services Excess Work Load
A social worker from Kirklees told the eye of media .com ” the situation is just bad. The pay is not compatible with the work load at all, the task social workers have is under appreciated. Considering the complexities often involved in our work and the vast case load imposed on many social workers, we should be one of the highest professions in England. Strike is something people take seriously, social workers would never agree to strike unless we thought it was absolutely necessary”. The social worker, who insisted on not being named’ refused to be drawn into the allegations of bullying in social services, simply stressing that ” most of the frustration and stress of the job can lead to people being worked up. If pay and work load is sorted out, everything will fall into place nicely”.
,The council’s director of children’s services, Sarah Callaghan, left after less than nine months in post in a development that underscores the seriousness of the problem.
KIrklees Social Services Rated Inadequated
Kirklees children’s services received an inadequate rating by ofsted last November, and has been under government intervention since then. Inspectors referred 100 cases back to the authority for urgent review during the inspection and found social care IT systems were “not fit for purpose”.
Paul Holmes, the local Unison branch secretary, lambasted efforts by the council to resolve issues, claiming that the Ofsted report only echoed issues that had long been pending in the borough. Home said there have been bitter complaints for the past six years since 2011.
Holmes said social workers were “at the end of their tether”, and have simply had enough. “Members are saying the case loads are too big. Something urgently needs to be done to progress matters forward. The other issue is the fact that people have a wide case load ranging from easy to middle to hard cases. People accept that. However, when you get increasing numbers of agency social worker you get a bigger proportion of the harder stuff. Holmes told the eye of media.com that the will for a solution has not been strong enough, but that concerted efforts from those who are well positioned could eventually solve the problem.
“I don’t want to a strike, he said. What I really want is to achieve a resolution to the six problems.”
“While I recognise we still have a way to go, my view is that we are dealing with the issues he raised as well and as quickly as we can, with support from the DfE [Department for Education],” she said. There are over 1,300 staff in children’s social services, and the number of social workers who have voted to strike represent a small fraction of the whole. However, that small number is still worrying because there may be many others who are silent about their issues or who may not be experiencing the same level of overload or under pay as the others. Chilkdren’s social services is very important, and a strike will disrupt a service that is already plagued with failings and inadequacies.
Something urgent needs to be done to address the problems of social services in KIrklees, which is a reflection of most social services in the country. This important profession is being dragged through the mud because of too much work load and insufficient pay. The number of failings highlighted in 2016 alone were so much that it brings the profession to disrepute. The eye of media.com will be undertaking a monthly check on children’s social services in Kirkless to see what changes, if any, have been made. Let’s hope that between now and January 27, some clear intervention to address issues takes place.