By Charlotte Webster-
A high percentage of social workers and managers have plans to leave their current position in the next 16 months., according to a study.
Those working with children and families are desperate to quit their current job in that time, with 62% saying they were looking to leave.
The study conducted by Bath Spa University on the working conditions of social workers reveals the dire conditions under which social workers operate. Researchers used the perceived Stress Scale, a widely-used measure of stress across occupational populations, respondents to the survey produced an overall score of 8.54 out of a maximum 16 on the scale, up from 7.82 in 2017.
A study of over 3,000 social workers found high workloads and a lack of resources to help service users were the main contributors of stress to poor working conditions. The Working Conditions and Well being research was co-commissioned by Social Workers Union (SWU) and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) foundation sheds light on the crisis facing social services
About 40% of the 3,421 members of the SWU and BASW questioned said they were looking to leave the profession entirely within the next 17 months.
Social workers in adult social care recorded the highest levels of stress, averaging a score of 8.72. Job satisfaction rates were relatively low with 21% of social workers saying they were extremely dissatisfied with their job.
LACK OF RESOURCES
Lack of resources for service users and insufficient support were key contributors to high levels of stress, according to the study .
A large workload was mentioned as a causal element 1,890 times in responses to the survey. Respondents indicated that both the difficulty and amount of work had an effect on levels of stress. The challenge of the workload is an issue that needs to be addressed either by local councils or the government, and workload is in many cases made worse by a lack of direction on how to address the problem.
Social workers also said they were strained by working an average of 11 hours more per week than they are contracted. Respondents also said there was a mismatch between the number of cases and the number of social services available to deal with them. tendency to over-record information were two factors which contributed to workload complaints.
Participants reduce stress in the workplace; this was in conjunction with lowering caseloads. There were also calls for the recruitment of more staff and a fairer allocation of cases.
Over 40% of respondents reported being exposed to negative physical behaviours by service users – this increased to half the respondents among children and families’ social workers – with negative verbal behaviour experienced by around six in 10.