Employed child protection social workers as of 1 March 2025
Case reference FOI2025/00953
Received 19 May 2025
Published 25 June 2025
Request
I request the following information:
1. In total, how many front-line child protection social workers work for the council (whether employed or agency) as of 1 March 2025?
a. How many and what percentage are agency staff?
b. How many and what percentage are less than two years qualified?
c. How many and what percentage are both agency staff and less than two years qualified?
2. What is the full complement of front-line child protection social workers the Department for Children's Services should have, and what is your current recruitment shortfall into those roles (as of 1 March 2025)?
3. What is the current average caseload for front-line child protection social workers working for the council (as of 1st March 2025).
4. Please specify how many active cases each front-line child protection social worker who has been qualified for less than two years (as of 1 March 2025) is handling.
5. Do any social workers have the title 'project' social workers? Please name and describe the projects these 'project social workers' are engaged on.
Response
I request the following information:
1. In total, how many front-line child protection social workers work for the council (whether employed or agency) as of 1 March 2025?
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, there were 40 (not including team managers) front-line child protection social workers working for the council.
a. How many and what percentage are agency staff?
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, there were 23 agency staff, which was 57.5%.
b. How many and what percentage are less than two years qualified?
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, there was 1 employee who was less than 2 years qualified, which was 2.5%. (Please note, this employee became 2 years qualified in April 2025).
c. How many and what percentage are both agency staff and less than two years qualified?
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, there were 0 agency staff who were less than 2 years qualified, which was 0%.
2. What is the full complement of front-line child protection social workers the Department for Children's Services should have, and what is your current recruitment shortfall into those roles (as of 1 March 2025)?
Answer: The full complement of front-line child protection social workers the Department for Children's Services should have is 48. As of 1 March 2025, there were 8 vacancies.
3. What is the current average caseload for front-line child protection social workers working for the council (as of 1st March 2025).
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, the current average caseload for front-line child protection social workers working for the council is 15.5 cases.
4. Please specify how many active cases each front-line child protection social worker who has been qualified for less than two years (as of 1 March 2025) is handling.
Answer: As of 1 March 2025, each front-line child protection social worker who has been qualified for less than two years is handling 0 active cases.
5. Do any social workers have the title 'project' social workers? Please name and describe the projects these 'project social workers' are engaged on.
Answer: No, we have no social workers with the title ‘project social worker’.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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