Council officials are taking desperate measures to recruit children’s social workers after it emerged that vacancies have doubled in less than a year.
The local authority is going far afield, targeting qualified staff in Scotland and Ireland, in a bid to fill 156 roles in a three-month campaign.
Coun Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children’s services, admitted the beleaguered department was struggling to both recruit and retain staff.
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In November last year it had 80 vacancies, but that number has almost doubled in just nine months as the team battles to turn its fortunes around.
The department, which has been rated as inadequate for the past five years, was branded a “national disgrace” by the Government’s chief inspector of schools last October.
Failings by social workers and other child protection staff have been highlighted in a series of serious case reviews into the death of children, including Birmingham youngsters Keanu Williams and Khyra Ishaq.
Coun Jones said the council was having to seek staff from further afield – including Scotland, Ireland and London – after “exhausting” the market in the West Midlands.
“We believe that since the troubles have died down in Northern Ireland there is now less demand there for social workers, which possibly frees up a pool of resources that we can tap into,” she said.
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She said more should be done to encourage people to work in the often-maligned sector.
“The job has a really negative reputation, which is completely unjustified,” said Coun Jones, who believes programme makers should produce a TV show portraying social workers in a positive light in a bid to stop Birmingham’s recruitment crisis.
“Dramas like ER and The Bill show police and doctors in a fantastic light, but little do people seem to realise that social workers are there in the background heavily involved in the cases the medics and police are dealing with.
“It’s almost a hidden service with a stigma attached to it.
“It’s very difficult work but the intervention or help from a social worker can be fantastic.
“There are a lot of hugely positive stories about the work of social workers and the long-term impact that they have made on helping people to turn their lives around or work their way out of a bad situation, but those are the stories we never seem to read or hear about.
“I would love to see the BBC do a Doctors-style TV show focused on social workers.
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“There might be more recognition and understanding about what they do every day.”
The new recruitment drive comes after the council increased wages for temporary social workers by 68 per cent for a six-month period last October in an attempt to help solve its chronic staff shortage problems.
The huge rise meant the authority was paying agency staff with at least two years’ experience £41.23 an hour, up from the previous £24.54.
At the time, the council had lost social workers to neighbouring authorities which pay higher salaries.
It was claimed neighbouring Sandwell was offering staff £40-plus an hour – on top of “golden hellos” of up to £10,000.