That is one of the key highlights of the annual report of the city's Principal Social Worker, which shows the progress Jenny Rogers and her team have made against key priorities for adults and children's services over the last 12 months and sets a number of priorities for the year ahead.
In particular, the report shows that the turnover rate of social workers in Wolverhampton is lower than the national average, with the rate in children's services 9.4% compared to 15.9% nationally, and the rate in adult services 10.6%, compared to 14.5% in England as a whole.
The report says that, nationally, social work is challenged by 'high turnover and vacancy rates, which can leave social workers trying to work with too many individuals'. However, significant activity has taken place in Wolverhampton to both recruit and retain social workers, including attending recruitment fairs, sponsoring international students as newly qualified social workers, and taking steps to reduce stress levels and make workloads more manageable.
Other areas of strength highlighted in the report include that 'practitioners know the children and families they work with well', while 'meaningful relationships with children, young people and families' is linked to sustained changes.
'Timely, comprehensive' and 'good quality assessments' are leading to appropriately focused help and effective interventions, while people say they feel listened to and that their social worker was doing a lot to help them.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, said: "The report shows our continued commitment to social work learning and development. Our social workers value this, with more social workers this year telling us that they are really happy with the opportunities available to them.
"There's also been a lot of activity to support the recruitment and retention of social workers, for instance in Adult Social Care, we are talking on more apprentices, reflecting our 'growing our own' approach.
“As a profession, social workers can sometimes get overlooked for the contributions they make and so it's vital that we raise the profile of social work and recognise the great work that they do for people and families in Wolverhampton. This year, we were proud that 21 of our social workers were recognised nationally by the British Association of Social Workers, for being Amazing Social workers."
Councillor Jacqui Coogan, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, added: "We are very proud of all our social workers and Councillor Jaspal and I want to thank every single one of them for the fantastic work they do.
"Great lengths are being taken to recruit and retain our social workers, which is a national challenge. However, the Principal Social Worker's report shows that our turnover is well below the national average and this is testament to the approach that is being taken here in Wolverhampton.”
The Principal Social Worker's annual report was approved by members of the council's Cabinet on Wednesday (24 July, 2024).
