Council looks to USA for urgent recruitment of social workers

A severe national shortage in social workers has prompted Herefordshire Council to launch a trans-Atlantic drive to recruit qualified personnel.

Like most local authorities, the council has struggled to recruit sufficient qualified and experienced social workers in recent years, despite extensive local and national advertising campaigns.

Working with specialist social care recruitment agency Pulse Recruitment, the council has 16 confirmed candidates to interview over five days in Atlanta, Georgia later this month with possibly more candidates to add to the list.

The council's contract with Pulse Recruitment means that the council will pay a £4,000 fee for each successfully recruited social worker. This is refundable if the worker does not arrive in the UK or leaves within the first six months of contract. The fee includes all travel and accommodation costs for interviewers to travel to the USA, as well as documentation, checking, visas and work permits.

Shaun McLurg, head of safeguarding and assessment, said: "Many other local authorities have resorted to recruiting social workers from Australia, Canada and the USA. For Herefordshire, this will be a more cost effective solution than using agency staff, as each one costs an extra £20,000 per year when compared with a full time social worker employed by the council, and it also compares favourably with the costs of a national recruitment campaign.

"Whilst we will continue to strive to recruit staff locally and nationally we have a statutory obligation to safeguard vulnerable children in Herefordshire, and so must consider every available option to ensure we have sufficient qualified staff to meet this challenge".