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Social work staffing expenditure

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To whom it may concern,

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.

Should the following questions exceed your time and budgetary restrictions, we ask that as per Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act you kindly assist us in formulating our request before the statutory 20 days waiting time. We are available to discuss this over the phone on 07940074548 if more convenient.

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).

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.
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)
c) the average hourly wage for agency staff.
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.

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.).
b) the actual number of permanent staff hours worked in total across the whole team.
c) the actual number of agency staff hours worked in total.
d) The percentage of total agency hours that covered permanent staff vacancies, rather than maternity or sick leave.
e) the average timeframe that individual agency staff members worked within the service (i.e. how long do they normally stay?).

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).
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.
c) Any incentives you offer as part of the recruitment of social workers, either to social workers themselves or recruitment consultants, for example relocation packages (and the cost of these).

Total Cost:
a) The total cost of permanent staff members and the total cost of agency staff members.

Then, looking at the current situation:
- How many permanent full time equivalent staff members are currently employed?
- How many full time equivalent agency staff are currently employed covering permanent positions (not maternity or sick leave)?
- What are the names of the agencies used by the council to provide temporary social workers?
- 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)?

If there are questions for which you do not hold the information, please tell us why this is, where this information can be found, and who to contact.

Please provide all information in a machine readable format, i.e. an Excel spreadsheet or similar, and not in a scanned pdf format.

Yours faithfully,

M. Richards and A. Charles

FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear M Richards

Re: Freedom of Information Request .

Your request will be dealt with in line with the Freedom of Information Act and its regulations. In accordance with the Act, the Council aims to respond to all requests within 20 working days; ie by 6th July.

Should we require further information, clarification or a fee in order to fulfil your request we will contact you again. Please quote the reference number above in all future correspondence concerning this request.

Yours sincerely,

Business Intelligence Team – Information and Records
Tel. 01223 743881, Email: [Cambridgeshire County Council request email]
Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0AP

show quoted sections

FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

Dear M. Richards

 

I am writing to let you know that there will be a delay in responding to
your request for information under the FOI Act 2000.

 

Some of the information you have requested is considered to be
commercially sensitive under Section 43 (2) of the Act.

 

The Local Authority has a duty to consider whether the information in
question is prejudice to commercial interest, and whether releasing this
information into the public domain will outweigh any decision made by the
Authority to withhold it.

 

This will involve conducting a Public Interest Test (P.I.T.). As a result
of this, you can expect to receive a full response within 20 working days,
in this case by 6^th August 2018.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Clare Storey

Business Intelligence Advisor

 

Business Intelligence Team – Information and Records

Tel: 01223 699137

Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3
0AP

 

The information in this email is confidential and may be legally
privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you receive this
email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately.
Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily
represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and
received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned
for the presence of computer viruses and security issues. Visit
[1]www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

References

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1. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/

FOI, Cambridgeshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear M Richards

 

Re: Freedom of Information Request ref 862585

 

We have considered your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please find our response attached, and accept our
apologies for the long delay in providing you with a response.

 

I hope this information is helpful but if you are unhappy with the service
you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint
or request a review, you should write to Information Management, at either
[1][Cambridgeshire County Council request email] or by post at Box No. OCT1224, Shire Hall,
Cambridge CB3 0AP within 40 days of the date of this e-mail.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, or via their website: [2]https://ico.org.uk/.

 

Generally, the ICO will not undertake a review or make a decision on a
request until the internal review process has been completed.

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Business Intelligence Team – Information and Records

Tel: 01223 699137 (Team)

Box No. OCT1224, Cambridgeshire County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge, CB3
0AP

 

 

The information in this email is confidential and may be legally
privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you receive this
email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately.
Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily
represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and
received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned
for the presence of computer viruses and security issues. Any personal
data will be processed in line with the Data Protection legislation,
further details at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/privacy Visit
[3]www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Cambridgeshire County Council request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/
3. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are M Richards please sign in and let everyone know.