Overview of Impact on the Workforce

Some of the findings reported in this chapter related to all participants and appear consistent with changes to the image, status and perception of children‟s social work in England from 2009 to 2012. The surveys revealed differences between participants but also similarities. Chief among these perhaps is the finding that decision latitude did not greatly differ between SWP staff and others.

All findings also need to be seen in the context of variations between participants related to the staffing of the SWPs. Notable is the lower proportion of staff who are social work qualified in the SWP sites compared with those from host and comparison sites. Social workers tended to score higher on psychological job demand than non-social workers. In local authorities therefore, higher numbers of social workers with responsibilities for child protection work are likely to make for raised levels of pressure in Children‟s Services teams. However, SWP participants tended to agree more with positive statements about their work. There are a number of possible

explanations for such observations, including the „Hawthorne effect‟ (McCarney et al. 2007) which entails improved performance in groups that are the objects of study; the shorter life span of the pilots, limiting exposure to workplace problems; as well as SWPs being conducive to positive work experiences, in particular, making a reality of peer and supervisory social support. This latter factor may be protective; SWP workers had lower levels of depersonalisation than staff in host and comparison sites.

Our findings point to the potential for reform to concentrate further on the expenditure of time with LAC and birth families and carers; not simply because of the outcomes of such

engagement but also because such use of time seems to play a part in reducing social workers‟ emotional exhaustion. Team and supervisory support emerged as being higher among SWP staff. Interestingly, the findings do not suggest that support from colleagues could compensate for lack of supervisory support; the SWP staff were more likely to report that both types of support were higher than the others surveyed and it is this that contributed to higher social support. There may be other influences at play; in Chapter 2 we noted that the SWPs received substantial external support with their professional practice and training, as well as help with set up; this needs to be acknowledged and successor SWPs may not be so advantaged.

These findings point to some differences between the SWP and host and comparison sites; however, some findings were similar, notably feelings of job insecurity. By their nature, SWPs and other outsourced local authority services are likely to give rise to some insecurity around contracts which involve negotiations and renewals; although for some of the pilot staff there were various „insulating factors‟, such as remaining within local authority employment. Finally, having a ring-fenced cohort of LAC and young people eased pressure on SWP staff

considerably, as reported in the interviews; this point may underpin feelings concerning the space for direct work with LAC, birth families and carers that were communicated in the surveys.

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Chapter 7 Summary Points

 The practitioners‟ survey was completed by large numbers of staff in SWP pilot, host authorities and comparison sites. The staff profile of the SWP pilots was different to that of the survey participants from the host and comparison sites in that fewer of them were professionally qualified social workers.

 Insecurity scores were high overall and slightly, but not significantly, higher among SWP staff. This may reflect the nature of the pilots or the nature of contracting and its inherent uncertainties.

 Measures of work dynamics and staff participation were collected. SWP staff expressed more positive views about being encouraged to undertake innovative practice and that mistakes were viewed as learning opportunities. No survey participants reported a reduction in „form filling‟.

 Psychological job demand is a feature of professions like social work since the work is often demanding or distressing. Scores for this were high among participants from host, comparison and SWP sites and were higher among social workers than among non- social work staff. There were few differences between participants concerning satisfaction with their jobs.

 Social support scores were significantly higher among SWP participants. This applied to peer support and to supervisory support.

 Overall, SWP staff were less likely to express feelings of depersonalisation from their work. This might be expected in a new setting but it may be related to feelings of support within the organisation and the opportunity to work with a defined group of LAC. Earlier chapters have pointed to the value for children of being „known‟; this may also apply to staff. Feelings of emotional exhaustion were not greatly different among survey

participants.

 A sense of personal accomplishment was not significantly different between SWP staff and other survey participants in host or comparison sites. Overall, what gives the

children‟s workforce a sense of personal accomplishment is whether a worker feels they have adequate time for direct work with children and young people and if they are older and satisfied with their job.

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