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Child and Family Agency

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Questions (32)

Seán Sherlock

Question:

32. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration the number of social workers hired by Tusla in 2020; and the number of those who were hired who are over and above the number who were replaced by social workers who retired or left their posts. [22320/20]

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Written answers

As of 31st July 2020, 187 new Social Workers have been recruited in 2020 by Tusla. At the same time 73 existing social workers have been promoted to more senior Social Work posts in Tusla. While these do not increase whole time equivalent numbers, they assist Tusla in ensuring supportive management and supervisory structures are in place for frontline staff.

During the same period, 13 Social Workers have retired and 74 have left the organisation. 17 of those who left did so on a career break.

I am pleased to say that this has resulted in a net gain of 100 Social Workers since the start of 2020. This is a welcome contrast from some previous periods where recruitment of Social Workers was matched or even exceeded by retirements and other departures.

Tusla has a rolling campaign for the recruitment of Social Workers and it also completed an initiative in April 2020 to convert Agency workers into contracted Tusla employees, which resulted in 140 Social Worker posts being filled.

The recruitment of Social Workers continues to be a challenge for Tusla in 2020. Tusla is one of many employers of Social Workers in Ireland and it is competing with other employments that are often perceived as less challenging.

Tusla finalised a Strategic Workforce Planning Model in 2019 which I understand will be rolled out over the coming years. I welcome the focus on recruitment and retention as part of the roll-out of the Strategic Workforce Implementation Plan, assisting staff well-being through the assessment of workplace stressors and critical incident exposure in the workplace.

The Social Work Education Group established by my Department in 2019 continues to provide a forum for Tusla and other stakeholders, including the HSE and the Probation Service, to explore and act upon possible actions to influence the future supply of social workers.

There is no single or simple solution to recruiting and retaining social workers but I am working closely with Tusla and I believe the Agency can make progress over time.

Finally I am always conscious that rather than focusing solely on Social Workers, we need to look at skill mix overall, and ensure that we have the right combination of professionals. Tusla’s strategic workforce model will increase and formalise the use of social care workers and ensure that Social Workers are supported by appropriate complementary grades.

The model envisages a gradual transition to multi-disciplinary teams consisting of the optimum mix of skills across social work, social care, therapeutic staff, family support, education welfare and administrative support.

Questions Nos. 33 and 34 answered orally.
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