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?

I'm a teacher - 1 x degree, 1 x masters, 1 x PGCE, 2 years completing an ECT. Total = 7 years training. Pay = £35,500 pa. NB, I'm a career changer.

My daughter is a social worker (and a bloody good one). Left school at 16, came up through the profession via education / inclusion. Has no degree or masters. All training while earning a full-time salary. Pay = £46,000 pa.

In other words, for every person arguing how great other public sector workers have it, there's another person who can offer an alternative perspective.

Your husband must have unusually generous employer contributions. My dh is job hunting at the moment and public sector roles he is looking at all have an employer contribution of at least 24%.
I get 3% which is probably a bit mean but I don't think many private sector get more than 5%

@Katypp even if he has, you're missing the point that wages in the private sector are higher. Say the majority of my peers have an average corporate pension, they all earn 50-100% more than I do. They have disposable income to invest, I don't. Several of my friends have plans to retire before 60 because they have investments that will generate passive income. That's just not possible to reach on a public sector wage.

I did and it’s nowhere near as good as my former private sector pension.

But I assume that’s her pay now, not whilst she was training and at that pay she’s probably either getting a London weighting or/and in a senior SW/Team Manager role? I would also think she’s not earning that a year or two post ASYE.

Yes you can qualify via an apprenticeship and earn at the same time. I think it’s a great scheme but I think your post lacks clarity in that implies you can become a SW with no qualifications and earn £47k
when apprenticeships take 3 years to complete and do not pay at that rate.

She can't be a social worker if she doesn't have a degree in social work.

Yep all training routes lead to a degree level qualification, it’s not possible to register without one, even doing an apprenticeship leads to a degree.

Unless she qualified under the very old diploma scheme.

I wonder if the PP meant the daughter didn't have to pay for a degree in order to get into social work. But even then, an apprenticeship wage is a lot lower, and apprenticeship places are limited - most LA's I've worked in will only offer one or two a year so the people getting them have usually served their time and excelled in order to be successful (our last apprentice had done 10+ years in a non qualified youth offending role and was worth his weight in gold)

I didn’t say anywhere that I class myself as an experienced social worker, I’m not sure why you’ve latched on to that? If I was classifying myself I would say I’m not, however within my team I am due to levels of experience within it.

Contribution rates are meaningless in a defined benefit pension - they’re completely arbitrary.

@forgodssakes I absolutely agree and am also raging! After SWE raising the cost of registration , the pay offer is the kick in the teeth that SW don’t need.

Im gobsmacked by some of the replies here. Unless you are a SW , you can’t understand the level of pressure, expectation and vicarious trauma that SW’s take on the chin every day.

A 5pm finish is a fantasy most days. And no overtime pain (in my LA anyway) means that the salary in no way reflects the actual hours worked.

Social care is not just sinking, it sunk ages ago and LA’s rely on the fact that most SW have strong core values that mean we put up with it because we care and know how badly some families need support. How often do social workers go on strike??? Think about why they don’t?! Our hands are tied.

Case loads through the roof, no supporting services to offer our families because they have all lost funding and shut up shop , angry families that aren’t getting the service they need and take it out on the SW… it’s a thankless task and no wonder so many are leaving the service.

the fact is that i love and am proud of being a SW … but i can still recognise how poorly we are treated and the latest pay offer shows that!

Perhaps if SWE didn't make it so difficult for experienced SW to restore their registration after a break due to illness etc? I feel like I have to jump through hoops and no one can help or advise me. I am currently working as a care assistant and I was an experienced children's social worker in the past. I got ill. I will have to spend £1000 of my own money on a short uni course doing a Return to Social Work course and even that won't guarantee me my registration back. I haven't done anything wrong - just was sick and took some years off! Surely my experience and skills have value? Seemingly not!

This is so frustrating. And so short sighted! Experienced social workers are gold dust and you would think they would make it as easy as possible for you to do some CPD and get back into practice. I’m sorry you are having these difficulties, I hope you get back into it x

Uni staff have only got 1.4%!

Quite ….just because there may be overlap in skills and working with children doesn’t mean there is overlap in the working circumstances, culture, recruitment and retention difficulties etc. Teaching, Nursing and Social Work face distinct differences. This coming from someone who has worked in education, Social Work, Mental Health and Charity Sector as a Social Worker, Therapist and as part of SLT in a school.

social work can be amazing but quite often, especially CP, is soul destroying and mentally exhausting. Also often not conducive to family life. I’ve been threatened and stalked many times. Not to mention the lack of resource, lack of early help for families, general attitude towards social workers and now the fees rise. I’m not sure what the answer is, and I left a fair few years ago now due to stress and retrained.

also, yes 3 years is sadly classed as experienced because that is the state of retention