Debate contribution: Social Services Vacancies: North Belfast and West Belfast

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 8 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

8 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Social Services Vacancies: North Belfast and West Belfast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4582086

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Obviously, I am from South Down, but, if there is any Adjournment debate in which I feel that I can participate, I will do so. As the son of a Clonard woman and an Ardoyne man, I think that I get to speak on an issue in North Belfast and West Belfast. The SDLP supports the Adjournment topic and the issues that have been highlighted. We recognise that there are a massive number of vacancies, which Members have mentioned. I will highlight the fact that such a high level of vacancies across social services in the area can create a continuing problem. The fewer staff there are, the more pressure there is on those who are there. Those jobs become less attractive, and people then leave. It would be good to hear whether the Minister has a human resource plan to respond to a staffing crisis. A crisis will beget a crisis that will continue to impact on the area. Having worked for many years in diocesan-based youth services that have youth centres across North Belfast and West Belfast, I am aware from those staff — I continue to hear this from them — of the problems and the scale of the issues for the young people with whom they work. There is a real issue on the ground and a real problem in responding to it. That is the sort of cocktail that will lead to problems. As Mr Carroll said, it could ultimately lead to some very dangerous outcomes, and it will be some of our vulnerable young people or our elderly people who will be impacted on.

I also want to raise the fact, given that it has been mentioned, that we have had a number of debates today on similar issues, so the issues are a bit repetitive. This is something that I mentioned earlier: if we are going to move into a phase where we have an adult protection Bill, multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) continuing to roll out, the Adoption and Children Act and learning and disability frameworks, there is going to be an even greater emphasis on the recruitment of social workers and that is, inevitably, going to divert some away from the roles that they are in at the minute, because there are just not enough social workers to cover the patches as it is. If we have this greater need for even more social workers, they are going to be spread even thinner on the ground, and it is the more stressful roles that social workers are going to want to exit from to take up the new roles. The British Association of Social Workers, as an example, constantly says that there are not enough people in training and there are not enough funded places for the training of social workers, which means that we are not actually replacing a depleted workforce. All roads lead to the fact that there are going to be continuing pressures and we really need to see some sort of resolution. I look forward to hearing from the Minister who, I am sure, will be aware of the issues and no doubt will be able to give us an update on what the Department is doing.

538 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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