Adult social workers report “strong sense of pride” in role

Adult social workers have reported a "strong sense of pride" about working for the City of Wolverhampton Council.

That’s according to the latest Social Work Health Check, which assesses the health and wellbeing of social workers.

As well as having pride in their job, nearly 90% of respondents said they plan to stay with the council in the year ahead, compared to 70% 12 months ago.

The survey found that average caseloads for adult social workers have fallen in the last 12 months and, while the average number of hours full time social workers had to work over their contracted hours increased slightly, part time workers reported a significant reduction year-on-year.

At the same time, stress levels rose slightly last year, most likely because of the challenges that Covid-19 has posed – however, they remain below the levels recorded in 2016 and 2017.

Councillor Linda Leach, Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: "We believe Wolverhampton is the best place to do social work and we are constantly striving to improve and drive up standards of practice across the city.

“Our social workers do an incredible job in often very trying circumstances and, as a council, we will do all we can to support them in their role.

"Although caseloads fell over the last 12 months, stress levels among staff have risen slightly. This is understandable given the unprecedented circumstances we have all had to face in that time.

“Social work is also a notoriously demanding profession, and, by its very nature, the role carries a certain level of stress. However, we want to ensure staff are happy and productive at work and there has been a continual focus – both within adult services and across the whole council – on supporting people's wellbeing throughout the pandemic.

"For instance, we have recently refreshed the supervision policy which includes having robust discussions about workload manageability and discussions on health and wellbeing. The number of staff having regular supervision has also increased markedly over the last couple of years.

"We have put a range of other measures in place, including providing a large selection of resources to help with any wellbeing, mental health and other issues that workers may be experiencing, supporting social workers who are struggling to work from home and feeling isolated and supporting individual teams that are experiencing extra pressure due to Covid-19, for instance through additional staffing."
She added: “As we approach World Social Work Day 2021 next week, I would like to place on record my thanks for the fantastic work all our social workers do, day in, day out, for our city’s vulnerable adults, children and their families.”

For more information about social care jobs available with the City of Wolverhampton Council, please visit www.wolvessocialworkjobs.com.