Money was the elephant in the room when Ed Balls unveiled his reforms to overhaul social work in the wake of the Baby P tragedy earlier today.
Unlike the major programmes to modernise nursing and teaching over the last 10 years or so, reforms to social work will not be accompanied by great wads of cash to buy off the critics or those required to struggle through work in a different way than before. There is simply no money around and the next spending round will be tightest for 10 years.
Even worse, social work is paid for by local authorities out of budgets that, unlike the schools budget for example, are not ringfenced. That means they are at the mercy of any local or national emergency that lands at the town hall’s door.
The children’s secretary batted away questions about money, saying various millions had been spent on child protection since the Baby P tragedy.
Moira Gibb, chief executive of Camden Council and chair of the social work taskforce who drew up the reforms, was more blunt.
Advertisement
“I wish we had been doing this 10 years ago when there was money around,” she said.
But the question remains - how can social workers be recruited and retained if they are paid less than other equivalent professions? How can you boost the morale of a beleaguered sector without financial reward?
Although starting salaries are often higher than teachers and nurses, social workers soon fall behind and cannot earn more than £35,000 while still serving on the front line. They are forced to become managers if they want to earn more. Many do, even if management is not their strength. Many others simply leave the profession.
Nurse consultants and advanced skills teachers can both earn over £50,000 thanks to the government reforms of a few years ago.
The social work taskforce’s answer is to link pay progression far more clearly to knowledge and skills rather than promotions to various grades. That means local authorities cannot wriggle out of pay rises by freezing promotions to senior positions as they have been doing in the last year.
Advertisement
But Ms Gibb knows very well money is the rock upon which all her reforms could perish.
She has made clear if no progress is made on pay she will return to the subject, as is her right. She has been given a role in implementing her reforms.
If no progress is made on pay by local authority employers, she will propose a national pay body is set up to ensure social workers are fairly rewarded.
That is something Mr Balls will most definitely want to avoid.