Conservatives' 'money-saving' social worker policy cost more money than it saved refuted

DW
13 Dec 2013
Lib Dem logo bird projected on blockwork
Did the Conservatives abandonment of national pay agreements lead to an exodus of key Social Service Staff?

CLAIMS a policy to save council cash ended up costing more than was saved have been refuted.

The Royal Borough's U-turn on pay for social workers came under fire from independent councillor Lynne Jones at a full council meeting on Tuesday (10/12).

The council moved away from nationally-agreed terms and conditions for social workers in February, resulting in many staff leaving and the gaps being plugged with expensive agency workers.

Certain social staff were given a raise in October which has since stopped the mass exodus with the vast majority of vacancies now being filled.

Speaking at the meeting, cllr Jones said: "These changes were included in the budget as a saving of £220,000. The estimated cost of agency social workers has been £300,000 with a loss of continuation of service to residents."

Responding, council leader David Burbage said: "I do not recognise those figures. I do not believe it greatly impacted services as, like many authorities we are suffering due to a lack of social workers nationally.

"We will be continuing the recruitment drive in the coming months."

Sources:

  1. http://www.windsorobserver.co.uk/news/windsor/articles/2013/12/13/95933-claims-moneysaving-social-worker-policy-cost-more-money-than-it-saved-refuted/#sthash.NxBA2YHz.dpuf

Further Reading:

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