Sir,
I write on behalf of the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) in response to the letter (‘Barriers to social work as a profession, 29 July 2024) from Dr. Joseph Mooney and the academic team providing professional social work education at University College Dublin (UCD). The authors of that letter highlight the challenges in training, recruitment and retention of social workers in Ireland and the consequent problems caused, including the adverse impact on vulnerable children and others. Those serious issues have been amplified again recently by a number of commentators, including some members of the judiciary.
The UCD team draw attention to “some additional context to the underpinning issues,” specifically financial, housing and the wider cost of living. In acknowledging the points made by our UCD colleagues, I want to add some more for consideration, while also pointing to some real solutions.
Whatever about the complexities of the underpinning issues at play, there is no denying the fundamental problematic fact that as a country, we are not producing enough social workers each year. The combined ‘output’ of social workers is about 250 annually. We need to be graduating at least double that number per year, to begin to fill current vacancies, let alone to provide for future service developments. While it is true to say that the analysis of and the factors contributing to that problem are complex, there are solutions, including those adverted to by Dr. Mooney and his team.
Key solutions must include: (1) strategic and systemic planning and coordination, (2) development of new pathways into social work and (3) increased funding for those undertaking social work training. The good news is that concrete steps are already under way or proposed in all these areas. Those steps now need to be accelerated and delivered on, with shared focus, energy and commitment.
Unfortunately, there is not a single Government department with responsibility for social work services, nor a joined-up strategic plan for the development of social work nationally. There is also no single body collecting and collating the most basic national workforce data across the organisations that employ social workers and the universities that train them. Such a plan should also have an all-island focus.
Almost two years ago, IASW published a report on training, recruitment and retention of social workers, including making concrete proposals for action to make improvements, the first time such an analysis was undertaken. Since then, the All-Employers Social Work Forum has been established, working proactively with universities, IASW and others to address the issues identified. The HSE – the organisation employing the highest number of social workers in Ireland – will soon appoint its first Chief Social Worker, filling what has been a significant gap in social work strategic leadership nationally.
Dr. Mooney and his colleagues rightly point to “the financial burdens of [university] fees, housing and unpaid [practice] placements.” Fees for social work programmes in some universities are over €10,000 per annum. The requirement for “completion of 1,000 hours of [unpaid] practice education in the field” by social work students, adds significantly to “the financial burden of fees [and] housing.”
The IASW has called on the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and Government to provide appropriate allowances to social work students undertaking mandatory practice placements, to help them defray the costs associated with placements, which are undertaken in two fourteen-week blocs, a move that would be inexpensive yet having high positive impact. Such financial supports are already available in a number of other jurisdictions, including in Northern Ireland.
It is true to state that the required numbers of social workers will not be produced by simply ordering an increase in university places alone. Some universities already struggle to fill existing places. Nevertheless, new pathways into social work training are being successfully created. A brand new Apprenticeship in Social Work was launched earlier this year. In its first intake, currently underway, that programme will provide forty-seven places for individuals who will ‘earn while they learn,’ graduating with a Masters level degree from UCC. This year’s intake was significantly over-subscribed, with over five applications for every single place available. Next year, the plan is to double that intake.
There is still considerable scope to take further effective steps to ultimately deliver the numbers of social workers that we need as a society. That will be achieved by the continued concerted and coordinated efforts of all stakeholders, including employers, universities, trade unions, government departments, professional association (IASW) and others. Those who depend on social work services, and especially those not currently able to receive them, deserve no less.
Yours,
Vivian Geiran
Chair of IASW
