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Date 1 February 2007
Midlothian social work staff problems raised over a year ago
UNISON, the union that represents Social Work staff in Midlothian
today said that recruitment and retention had been problems in the
department for some time, which meant increased pressure on staff.
Lesley Greig, Branch Secretary of UNISON's Midlothian Branch said
"Social Workers deal with the most vulnerable in our society. They
know that risks of a tragedy are always going to be present, but
in this case UNISON is well aware that the risks were increased
by problems of recruitment and retention, which have meant sections
working under staffed and pressure increasing. Indeed social work
team leaders in Midlothian raised a grievance in April 2005 alerting
management to the seriousness of the situation, and in July 2006
basic grade social workers also wrote to the management raising
their concerns regarding staffing, organisational issues, IT support
and administration systems.”
At that time experienced social workers were leaving the service
in Midlothian. Team leaders made it clear that the service was seriously
understaffed and many other issues were raised. The grievance was
not pursued as staff were promised solutions would be forthcoming.
However, despite attempts to increase recruitment recently, currently
the service is still being run with many inexperienced social workers
and agency staff and experienced staff are leaving.
Lesley Greig said "We have been working with the council to try
and put reforms in place to counter these problems for some time,
but it is clear that we still have a way to go. We want to continue
this work and ensure that Midlothian can have a social work department
that provides the level of resources needed to give the proper support
to vulnerable people across the area.”
ENDS
For Further Information Please Contact: Lesley Greig (Branch
Secretary) 0131 654 1129 (o) 07766 513 216(m) Mandy McDowall (Regional
Officer- Social Work) - 07903 846427 (m) Chris Bartter (Communications
officer) 07715 583 729(m)
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