Below inflation pay rise for social workers and social work England fees to rise to £120

[forgodssakes]

How are they getting away with this? The sector is in a recruitment crisis and services are stretched as it is, how can they continue to expect people to work under these conditions? 3.2% is pathetic compared to what nurses and teachers have been awarded. I expect that more people will leave the sector and social workers will continue to be criticised when things go wrong despite working under unworkable conditions and unsustainable caseloads. What can we do about this?

Because give it a couple of years and go agency on £45 an hour

The OP has nowhere stated that they feel they are important. They have correctly said they are doing a highly responsible job. The three years experience is post qualification.

I never complained about the money. Because however hard it was I wanted to do what I was doing. I loved it. I was promoted and now earn more money doing it because I was and am good at what I am doing. I am however tired of people who haven’t shown any real experience or ability complaining that they aren’t starting on management salaries… why would they?

You clearly have no idea of the reality of public sector pensions. They are no where near as good as they once were - most public sector workers will not have a good pension - but still people believe otherwise.

I didn’t see anyone complaining they weren’t starting on management salaries, the OP is saying the agreed pay rise doesn’t reflect what’s been offered to other professions that are often considered comparable.

I wont have a lump sum, most people are the same as me in public sector pensions

£37k for 3 years experience really isn’t bad. That’s similar to many private sector roles, which also have worse pensions than you. 3.2% was also standard at at rise too.

Who complained about not being on a management salary?! Your reading comprehension skills are poor especially for a teacher

Are the private sector roles with similar salaries equivalent to social work in skill and responsibility? Private sector is a big demographic

I am not in any way disparaging of social workers. I have a huge amount of respect for them- my parents were both social workers as is my sister and my dad grew up in mm
Children’s homes/foster care. I have also spent my adult life teaching in very deprived areas.

BUT I have no time for people who think 37k is not an adequate starting salary. We are in a recession, everyone is struggling and you can’t cite 3 years of experience as a reason why you deserve more money- this is why many are turning against the welfare state and why it may not exist in ten years. She has just finished her training. 37k is more than enough.

It’s not great for social work. I’m in Scotland and most social workers will start around £40k rising to around £44k after 3 years.

£37k is not the starting salary and in what universe is 3 years post qualifying 'just finished training'? Please expand. Do you actually believe that social workers are in training for 3 years after qualifying?

Wow. I can read thank you. She thinks after 3 years 37k is inadequate. So I jumped to the assumption she wants management money, because there is nowhere else to go in social services.

She said the below inflation pay rise was inadequate. Because it is. A below inflation pay rise is equivalent to a real terms pay cut. Nobody said she wanted management salary.

Im not sure why these discussion need to turn into public sector workers vs othr public sector workers to work out who is the worse off. Its not necessary

But in addition, the rush to point out that teachers, nurses, police officers etc etc all have to do 'social work'

Well guess what social workers have to do, all the other jobs too. Child gone missing, go out and search for them, dont phone the police until you've done that. Child committing crime, police wont take action but refer to 'social care'. Parents homeless, what is the social worker doing about that, how come you havent managed to get these parents housed or moved to more appropriate housing? Parents and/or child not in reciept of the right benefits, social worker, how come you havent sorted this yet? Parents and/or child, not registered with a GP, not taking the right meds, still on a waiting list for diagnosis - what are you doing about that social worker, why havent you fixed this yet?
Child wont go to school, Social worker why arent you taking the child to school or making the child go to school their attendance is terrible!
Child or family made threats or are violent to professionals so support services or MH teams etc wont visit - too dangerous - social worker, you have to visit though
Child hasnt got the right school, still waiting for a specialist school - social worker, make this happen, the child being out of school is breaking the law, you're letting this child down, failing children left right and centre.
Child doesnt want to speak to or know their parent, parent doesnt have a good relationship with the child and wont care for them properly - social worker, what 'work' are you doing with this child and their family to get them all happy again
Child on drugs, parent on drugs - how come their substance use hasnt reduced social worker, what have you done about that?
Child needs to move, parent needs help with transport - social worker, pick this child up and transport them and their belongings in your clapped out old car that cant even fit all the stuff in it requiring several trips

There are advanced practice posts which don’t have management responsibilities and specialist roles that don’t have management responsibility. But also a main grade social worker with 3 years experience should be earning a reasonable wage. A qualified teacher with 3 years experience and no management duties would be earning more.

I don’t think most people have any understanding of the level of risk you are working at as a social worker both in terms of managing children’s safety as well as your own. Whilst £37,000 may seem like a good salary, I have to say it pales into significance when you consider the work undertaken. I started as a children and families social worker over 20 years ago on £18,750, which was low in comparison to neighbouring authorities but only by a couple of thousand. Shockingly low. The workload has increased over the years as well as the risk to personal safety. It was unmanageable 20 years ago but social workers remained in the profession for longer so there was more support and knowledge. I left and wouldn’t return in the basis that I’m not prepared to give up my life again. I worked until 10pm and beyond every night for years, worked through or cancelled my annual leave and had to justify not agreeing to court hearings being listed when I was on holiday abroad as it was considered appropriate for social workers to forgo their holidays (along with their family). It’s one of the most important professions yet least valued.

Teachers are- PGCE, then two years of ECT. Although this isn’t the case in social services, surely 3 years is very fresh? And yes I understand that there is low staff retention and high turnover but that is very much the case in teaching- and we still don’t consider teachers with three years under their belt ‘experienced’

No, they wouldn’t. Look at the teaching pay scales.

The real social workers...the real ones who are hands on and not the case management role it's become should be on £35k plus...

The real social workers....the domiciliary carers. These people ensure people's most basic needs are being met but they're on minimum wage. That's the real travesty.

🥱.

The OP will probably die of stress before she can claim it, given it runs in line with the increasingly elusive state retirement age.

Honestly 3 years in a busy social worker team wouldn’t be considered fresh, or inexperienced. The speed and variety of work, the level of skill you develop at speed and the level of decision making means you grow up very quickly indeed. And most social workers come from having worked in similar fields, so aren’t starting from scratch to begin with. There’s really no comparison to teaching in terms of speed of professional development.

Three years is not fresh. Its haggard by then. Look at the little picture on their badge when they were newly qualified, all fresh faced and perky. Look at them now, sallow, grey, exhausted.

Exactly this. The people looking those we love who we can’t minimum wage are the ones who deserve a pay raise. Not the people who are complaining 37k isn’t enough

No, social workers are fully qualified after their first year, assuming they pass.
Social workers with 3 years experience post qualifying are considered experienced enough to carry high caseloads, issue court proceedings, carry out high risk child protection investigations. There is no concept of protected workload in social work after the first 12 months. Given the poor retention rates for the profession, 3 years is absolutely considered experienced, by every metric I know the word.