Social Worker Caseloads
Dear North Lanarkshire Council,
I would like to request the following information
Over each month for 2017 how many cases each social worker/ care manager in the older adults team is allocated broken down by the following areas
Cumbernauld
Coatbridge
Airdrie
Bellshill
Wishaw
I am aware the names of each social worker cannot be identified but if this can be abbreviated such as worker 1, worker 2 or worker a, worker b for each area.
When cases are being allocated is there consideration of the types of cases for example 10 complex cases versus 20 less complex cases and if so how is this implemented
If this does not exceed the costing can there also be added in how many cases allocated to each worker is adult protection
Yours faithfully,
Pete Simpson
Dear Mr Simpson
I acknowledge receipt of your e-mail which is receiving attention.
I shall contact you again when I am in a position to respond more fully to your request.
Yours sincerely
Jacqueline Keachie
for Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
01698 302232
Dear Simpson(7)
Request for information
I refer again to your email of 4 January 2018 seeking information in
relation to case loads of social workers.
Having investigated, my response to your four enquiries is as follows:
(1) and (2) I regret to advise you that there is no dataset from
which the specific breakdown of caseload data requested can be easily
extracted.
That being said, the Council undoubtedly hold records on social work
employees’ caseload, however, to compile the information you seek would
require individual scrutiny of thousands of records to extract accurate
information. By way of some explanation, caseloads change between workers
for different reasons e.g. holidays, sickness, complexity and to extract
the data required would be highly labour intensive and exceed the amount
prescribed for the purposes of Section 12 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002.
In order to be of some assistance, please find set out below information
relative to caseloads for the different areas within North Lanarkshire in
2017.
Row Labels Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Grand Total
Bellshill 52 45 108 34 50 58 13 126 33 36 82 38 675
Motherwell 14 24 38 32 30 51 14 19 11 27 23 34 317
Wishaw 54 43 36 30 31 38 33 38 29 21 36 16 405
Cumbernauld 23 19 59 42 58 37 24 44 42 37 39 28 452
Coatbridge 82 49 105 45 84 60 11 77 61 26 54 46 700
Airdrie 65 35 71 41 42 58 51 69 42 65 37 38 614
Grand Total 290 215 417 224 295 302 146 373 218 212 271 200 3163
Please note:
· The workers used for the allocations figures are all workers
assigned to the older adults/seniors, not just social workers.
· Large variances in the numbers are often due to reallocations
within the team.
(3) Although consideration is given to the complexity of the cases,
allocation is made during staff supervision between the manager and
worker, hence the skills and strengths of the individual worker as well as
the capacity to take on new work are also factors in the allocation
decision making process.
(4) The following table sets out the number of adult protection cases
allocated to each worker.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Row Labels |Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec|Grand Total|
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Bellshill |14 |22 |14 |23 |13 |12 |16 |29 |9 |19 |18 |7 |196 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Motherwell |14 |12 |19 |17 |17 |11 |6 |18 |11 |21 |10 |15 |171 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Wishaw |14 |12 |20 |26 |23 |29 |16 |20 |16 |21 |17 |22 |236 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Cumbernauld |17 |10 |11 |21 |9 |13 |22 |17 |14 |15 |20 |7 |176 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Coatbridge |13 |17 |13 |11 |13 |13 |9 |18 |9 |12 |17 |14 |159 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Airdrie |9 |7 |10 |13 |13 |14 |12 |16 |18 |5 |17 |9 |143 |
|------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----------|
|Grand Total |81 |80 |87 |111|88 |92 |81 |118|77 |93 |99 |74 |1081 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Please note:
· An adult protection referral may already be an open case to a
worker, so no new allocation may occur.
· An adult protection referral may be dealt with a different team
to “older adults”.
I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the
provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested
information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that
request, can within forty working days require a review of that decision
by writing to the Head of Business for Legal and Democratic Solutions,
Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB. Accordingly, if
you are dissatisfied with this decision and seek such review please write
to the Head of Business for Legal and Democratic Solutions.
I would advise, also, that in terms of Section 47 of the Act a person who
is dissatisfied with a notice given by the local authority under Section
21 of the Act - ie. a notice following a review of a decision by a local
authority, or by the failure of a local authority to give such a notice -
may make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a
decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the
request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt
with in accordance with the Act. Such an application must be made within
six months of the review decision and be in writing or in another form
which, by reason of it having some permanency is capable of being used for
subsequent reference. The application must state the name of the
applicant, and provide an address for correspondence. The application must
also specify the request for information to which the requirement for
review relates, the matter which gave rise to the applicant’s
dissatisfaction with the original decision of the local authority and the
matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the
decision on review by the local authority or the failure of the local
authority to issue such a decision. The Scottish Information Commissioner
can be contacted as follows:-
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St. Andrews
KY16 9DS
email: [1][email address]
Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online
via the following link: -
[2]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
I hope this information is sufficient for your purpose. If, however, you
require further information – or I can assist in any other way – please
let me know.
Yours sincerely
Angelene Kirkpatrick
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
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