'Shocking' sickness rates in social work

10.42.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Sep 2009

Annette will be presenting a paper on child protection to the lib dem conference next week

Stress blamed for absence rate that is 60% higher than national average

New figures compiled by Annette Brooke MP and the Liberal Democrats have shown "shocking" levels of sick leave taken by social workers which is far higher than other key public services. This has been put down to the huge pressures the job entails and not reserving the support they need.

The average sick leave national is 7.4 days with social workers taking 60% more at 12 days with one in 10 calling in sick at least 20 times. This data is based on returns from more than two-thirds of councils in England.

This problem is wide spread across England and is not confined to urban areas. The Particularly high rates are found in Somerset (27.8 days), Coventry (19.2), Cornwall (17.7), Sefton in Merseyside (17.5), Cumbria (17.3) and Bournemouth (16.1). Annette Brooke MP is presenting a paper containing these figures in a child protection paper on Tuesday afternoon at the Liberal Democrat conference.

Annette, the Liberal Democrats party's children's spokeswoman, told The Independent: "These shocking figures show the impact of the huge stresses social workers are under. The incredibly high number of vacancies leaves them spread too thin, working under huge pressure and dealing with a lack of resources and mountains of paperwork."

To read more click link below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shocking-sickness-rates-in-social-work-1787970.html