Less than two-thirds of staff in Jersey’s Children’s Social Care workforce are employed on permanent contracts, it has emerged – just over six months after a report found that frequent changes in social workers were “negatively impacting” children in care.
Of the 296 posts within Children’s Social Care, just 191 are filled by permanent employees.
There are currently 91 vacancies within the department – of which 45 are covered by agency workers, and 46 remain unfilled.
A further 14 staff members are on fixed-term contracts.
The figures were revealed by the Children’s Minister in a letter to Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
The letter also revealed that the Government has spent £1.25 million more on agency social workers over the past two years than it would have if the positions had been filled by permanent staff.
And an additional £500,000 overspend is projected on locum workers this year – bringing the total excess expenditure to £1.75 million over three years.
Constable Richard Vibert confirmed that the Government spent just over £4m on social workers in 2023 – almost £700,000 more than if the posts had been filled by permanent staff.
In 2024, the overspend was just under £575,000.
It comes just over six months after a report by Jersey’s care watchdog found that frequent changes in social workers and managers were “negatively impacting” children in care.
The Jersey Care Commission outlined recruitment and retention issues in the Children’s Social Care Service and Fostering Services in its most recent inspection report.
The inspection revealed that, while the service has made progress since previous assessments and is generally well-managed, “too many changes of workers and managers” is creating instability in the workforce and affecting the quality of support provided to children and foster families.
The report said: “A high staff turnover within the adoption and Fostering Service has created instability.
“The reliance on a high proportion of agency staff, who can leave at short notice, has placed the service at risk of unfinished assessments and inconsistent support for both prospective and existing foster carers and adopters.”
The Children’s Minister previously explained that the “nature of the work” makes it difficult to recruit social workers in Jersey.
Data from December 2023 revealed that children in care for two years or more had an average of 1.8 social workers in the previous 12 months, and 2.5 social workers in the previous 24 months.
However, the Minister clarified that changes in social workers are not solely due to staff turnover but can also result from responding to a child’s needs or transfers between services.
As of December 2023, 477 children were being supported by a social worker in Jersey.