Children's Services leaders' All-Wales Pledge
Children’s Services leaders pledge to work cooperatively and transparently to manage the agency supply chain, improve the quality of agency staff and regulate pay rates within Children’s Social Work.
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Over the last six months, and in response to the increasing instability in the recruitment market, local authorities in Wales have been working together to develop a joint approach to the use of agency social workers in children’s services.
The All Wales-Pledge is a commitment by Children’s Services leaders across Wales, to adopt and implement the agreed principles within the pledge when engaging recruitment agencies in the supply of social workers, enhanced social workers (senior practitioners, deputy team managers, senior social workers) and team managers.
The purpose of signing up to the pledge is to develop a transparent and co-operative approach, amongst social care leaders, that will:
- simplify and harmonise agency pay rates
- reduce the number of staff moving from permanent roles to agency roles
- agree national principles for the hire of agency workers, particularly onboarding processes and length of post-qualification experience required
- ensure ethical practices and standards underpin recruitment needs and priorities
The pledge comes into effect on Monday 1 May 2023.
Alwyn Jones, President of ADSS Cymru and Jenny Willams, Lead Director on the Workforce Leadership Group, ADSS Cymru, commented:
'The recruitment challenges we identified are not specific to Wales and the changes we will be putting into place are consistent with measures that have already been introduced elsewhere in the UK; some of which will be strengthened even further if the current DfE consultation is fully implemented. These are important changes which, at a time of continuing economic challenge in Wales, will help us to ensure that resources are focussed to the advantage of those we look to support and protect.'
If you have any queries, you can email: allwalespledge@adss.cymru
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