Social workers' caseload warning

Increasing pressure on social workers is putting vulnerable children at serious risk, according to a union.

Unison has criticised city and county councillors in Nottinghamshire for "rocketing" caseloads.

Jean Thorpe from Unison said: "I want the city to hear the message that the situation is very dangerous."

The city council said 16 new social workers were being recruited while the county council said it was dealing with a significant increase in referrals.

Ms Thorpe, a social worker and chair of Nottingham City Unison, said the Baby Peter case had led to more work, more hostility towards social workers and made it more difficult to recruit new staff.

'Chaotic environment'

"The city council promised to put more resources into child protection this year," she said.

"We've not seen any of those additional resources. Caseloads are rocketing.

"It's when caseloads become very high and you're making decisions in a very chaotic environment that the situation becomes dangerous, particularly for the children we're there to protect."

In a statement the city council said it it was "actively recruiting" 16 additional social workers and it remained "committed to ensuring our social care and safeguarding practices are the best they can be."

Helen Ryan, the county council's service director for children's social care and health, said: "Over the last nine months there has been a significant increase in referrals made to children's social work teams which has impacted on workloads.

"This is a challenge that we are dealing with in conjunction with front-line staff and the relevant unions."

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