Social services may recruit in Spain to fill vacancies

Social workers from Spain are expected to join the influx of Spanish doctors and nurses taking jobs in Britain.

Faced with about 2,000 vacancies for social workers across the country, local authorities are looking to recruit from a pool of trained staff in Spain. The health service has employed about 400 Spanish nurses, who are expected to be joined by 80 hospital doctors and GPs by the end of the year under a deal with the Spanish government. This does not cover social work, but local authorities are considering similar recruitment drives to overcome a national vacancy rate in child and family services of 23 per cent.

Brian Munday, a senior lecturer in international care at the University of Kent, said Spain tended to train more social workers than it needed.

The school of social work in Barcelona, for example, had 800 students in training and some of them would have difficulty obtaining posts in modestly staffed Spanish social services departments, he said.

"There is a big campaign to beef up numbers from within the UK. But I would think that a lot of departments are looking into this pretty seriously. It will be an increasing trend in context of the staffing crisis in the UK.

"The high profile of this in the health field will cause a lot of directors of social services to say, 'Hang on, this may be possible for us'."

Vacancy rates for social workers in some areas, including London boroughs, are running at 30 to 40 per cent and experienced staff are quitting their jobs because of the stress of increased workloads.

The Department of Health launched a £2m campaign this autumn to overcome the poor image of social work and encourage more people to train. But some authorities, including Kent County Council, which has the largest social work department in England, are considering links with Spanish training schools.

In an exception to the general rule, Kent has managed to reverse its staffing crisis by adopting innovative recruitment methods. These include a "grow-your-own" scheme, where local people are trained as social workers while being paid by the council.

The first 14 places at college attracted 650 applicants and interest is just as strong in a further 20 places to be funded by the council.

Peter Gilroy, the county's director of social services, said: "We are looking into Spain – we know the training is good and English is not a problem – but not in a big way.

"Despite the national crisis, we have reduced our vacancy rate in children and family services to 3.7 per cent, which is a lot better than two years ago."