Member's statement: Social Workers: Staffing Levels
Member's statement by Mrs Linda Dillon on .
- MLA
- Mrs Linda Dillon
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 13 May 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Social Workers: Staffing Levels
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4488534
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I hope that the Minister of Health's officials are listening today and that the strike action being taken by social workers across the North will be brought to the Minister's attention. The action is being taken not primarily on pay and conditions, although our social workers' pay and conditions are an issue, but on staffing issues. There are extremely unsafe staffing levels in some of our social work teams, particularly in children's services. One team that should be a team of 10 is working with two social workers. That is not acceptable. I am concerned by comments that were made at the Health Committee meeting on Thursday by witnesses from the BMA, representing junior doctors and consultants. They said that the starting point of the negotiation with the Health Minister was "No", without any negotiation. I hope that that will not be the starting point with social workers. I would like the Minister to take the matter extremely seriously and with the gravity that it should have. We are failing the most vulnerable children in our community and their families by not having the correct number of social workers and safe staffing levels, but we are also putting the social workers at risk by having them work in such conditions.
I want to see a plan from the Minister for addressing unsafe staffing levels. He needs to come to the Committee and the Assembly with a plan for how he will address the matter, and he needs to do so urgently, because we cannot allow the current situation to go on for social workers, vulnerable children and families.
268 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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