Information Governance
Postal addr
ess:
M Richards
Coventr
y City Council
Via email: request-490254-
PO
Box 15
Council Hou
se
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Cov
entry
CV1
5RR
www.coventry.gov.uk
E-mail: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Phone: 024 7697 5408
3 April 2019
Dear Sir/Madam.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Request ID: REQ04350
Thank you for your request for information relating to social work provision.
Your request is outlined below:
This request concerns the Council's social work provision for both children and
adults for the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 budget years.
First, please provide a basic definition for permanent social workers and a
definition for agency workers (i.e. staff who are used temporarily to cover
shortfalls in permanent staffing levels).
Please see the attached spreadsheet and comments to the remaining questions below:
Then for each of the three years separately, please detail:
Wage:
a) the average annual salary for permanent social workers in the team, and the
annual salary for the most junior level of permanent social worker you employ.
Adult’s
Children’s
Average annual
Annual salary
Ave. annual salary
Annual salary
salary
junior level SW
(median)
junior level SW
(median)
2015-16
35,662
24,472
35,662
25,440
2016-17
36,019
24,717
36,019
27,394
2017-18
36,379
24,964
36,379
27,668
b) The hourly equivalent of these annual salaries, based only on working hours
and not on allotted annual leave, bank holidays, development days etc. (i.e. annual
salary divided by contracted work hours)
Adult’s
Children’s
Average hourly
Hourly rate junior
Average hourly
Hourly rate junior
rate
level SW
rate (median)
level SW
(median)
2015-16
£18.48
£12.68
£18.48
£13.19
2016-17
£18.66
£12.81
£18.66
£14.20
2017-18
£18.85
£12.94
£18.85
£14.34
Note: we are unable to separate out annual leave, bank holidays, development days etc.
c) the average hourly wage for agency staff.
Pay rate (per hour):
Jul 2015 - Mar 2016 = £28.88
2016 / 17 = £28.16
2017 / 18 = £25.92
These figures are predominantly payable to limited companies and therefore include
employment costs.
d) the agency fee, and how this works, i.e. is it a one off up-front cost or an hourly
commission for each agency staff member? If it is the latter, please highlight
whether this is included within the hourly agency staff wage or is an additional
cost on top.
The agency fee is a fixed rate per hour that varies depending on the supplying
agency. Where the worker is not supplied by the Master Vender then there will be a
further markup for the Master Vender. Where the worker is employed by the agency (ie
taxed on PAYE), there will also be the actual cost of employers NI and
the apprenticeship levy.
Hours:
a) the total number of annual contracted hours for permanent social workers.
Please divide this into working hours, and non-working hours (i.e. annual leave
entitlement, bank holidays, development days etc.).
Childrens
Adults
2015-16
244,341.16
479,922.33
2016-17
236,285.10
541,320.48
Note: we are unable to separate out annual leave, bank holidays, development days etc.
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b) the actual number of permanent staff hours worked in total across the whole
team.
We can confirm that we do not hold this information and are advising you as per Section
1(1) of the Act. We are unable to report on actual hours worked.
c) the actual number of agency staff hours worked in total.
Agency Hours where supplied by the Master Vender only:
Jul 2015 - Mar 2016 = 98,832
2016 / 17 = £28.16 = 117,633
2017 / 18 = £25.92 = 74,890
d) The percentage of total agency hours that covered permanent staff vacancies,
rather than maternity or sick leave.
We can confirm that we do not hold this information and are advising you as per Section
1(1) of the Act. This information is not recorded.
e) the average timeframe that individual agency staff members worked within the
service (i.e. how long do they normally stay?).
We can confirm that we do not hold this information and are advising you as per Section
1(1) of the Act. This information is not recorded.
Benefits:
a) Any additional benefits offered/given to permanent staff members including
pension contributions (and the total cost of these), and any additional benefits
offered/given to agency staff members, including pension contributions (and the
total cost of these).
We can confirm that we hold this information and it is accessible to you via the Council
website, please use the following link:-
http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/228/social_work_jobs/2735/social_work_jobs/5
We therefore do not have to provide the information as per Section 21 of the FOIA.
b) Any costs that permanent staff members can claim back, but which agency staff
members have to absorb themselves - for example travel/petrol costs. In such
cases, please detail the total cost of these permanent staff claims.
Agency workers claim travel and subsistence on the same basis as permanent staff.
c) Any incentives you offer as part of the recruitment of social workers, either to
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social workers themselves or recruitment consultants, for example relocation
packages (and the cost of these).
See response to (a) above.
Total Cost:
a) The total cost of permanent staff members and the total cost of agency staff
members.
We can confirm that we do not hold this information and are advising you as per Section
1(1) of the Act. We are unable to isolate the data to answer this question.
Then, looking at the current situation:
- How many permanent full time equivalent staff members are currently employed?
Whole
Childrens
Adults
Council
As at 1 August 2018
3733.45
129.14
264.74
- How many full time equivalent agency staff are currently employed covering
permanent positions (not maternity or sick leave)?
See response above to (a).
- What are the names of the agencies used by the council to provide temporary
social workers?
The Master Vender for the period covered by this enquiry was Pertemps. In addition a
number of agencies were also contracted directly (i.e. not via the Master Vender)
however the Council does not record details of this pay or hours.
- What was the number of applications you had for the last five permanent social
worker roles that were advertised (and over what time-period this was)?
As at 29 June 2018, the last five advertised social worker roles received 76, 34, 14, 18
and 5 applications over an eight week window.
The supply of information in response to a freedom of information request does not
confer an automatic right to re-use the information. You can use any information supplied
for the purposes of private study and non-commercial research without requiring further
permission. Similarly, information supplied can also be re-used for the purposes of news
reporting. An exception to this is photographs. Please contact us if you wish to use the
information for any other purpose.
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Should you wish to make any further requests for information, you may find what you are
looking for is already published on the Council’s web site and in particular its FOI/EIR
Disclosure log, Council's Publication Scheme, Open Data and Facts about Coventry.
If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you can ask us to review our
response. Requests for reviews should be submitted within 40 days of the date of
receipt of our response to your original request – email: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
If you are unhappy with the outcome of our review, you can write to the Information
Commissioner, who can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or email xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in your response.
Yours faithfully
Information Governance
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