The judges commended the health department’s courageous decision to eliminate reliance on agency staff, significantly reducing costs. Their innovative recruitment strategy successfully transitioned over 200 agency workers to permanent roles.
In late 2022, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland began addressing the issue of social work vacancies in its five HSC Trusts, which provide services to children and families. The Department aimed to stabilise the workforce by stopping the use of agency social workers and improving direct recruitment practices. At the start of 2023, over 200 agency social workers were employed in HSC Trusts, particularly in children’s services. Many used agencies due to ineffective recruitment processes, which led to rising costs of £10.2 million in 2022/23.
The Department initiated open recruitment, encouraging agency social workers to apply for permanent posts, but initially, few responded. Simultaneously, it accelerated the recruitment of newly qualified social workers by engaging with universities. Healthdaq, a digital recruitment platform, was used to streamline the process, allowing students to register and manage their applications.
By June 2023, all agency social workers had left HSC Trusts, with 96 being appointed to permanent roles, mostly in children’s services. Additionally, 137 newly qualified social workers were hired by July 2023. Agency social worker costs were drastically reduced from £10.2 million to £3.2 million in 2023/24, and by 2024/25, no agency social workers were being employed.
Congratulations to all the runners-up in the hotly contested category.
- NHS England
- Civil Service
- Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
- Police Now
- Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust
- Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
- Wigan Council
This article originally appeared on the Personnel Today website – Read the full article.