Thank you for your email to Argyll and Bute Council in relation to Freedom
of Information Requests. We will endeavour to respond to your email as
soon as possible.  
Many Thanks
FOI team 

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Dear Karin Goodwin

Request for information: Children and family social workers: FoI request

Thank you for your information request which we have logged as reference
argyllbuteir:13717.

It has been passed to the relevant service(s) for attention and you should
receive a response under either the Freedom of Information (Scot) Act 2002
or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 by 2022-02-21
00:00:00. We hope to respond within this timescale but, due to the
staffing/capacity issues with COVID-19, some requests may take little
longer.

Please quote the reference number above in any correspondence you may have
with the Council in regard to this request.

Regards

FOI Officer

Privacy information: Any personal information you have provided in
relation to this request will be used only for the intended purpose -
please read the full privacy notice to find out more about how your
personal information will be handled, and your rights under data
protection legislation.

Classification: OFFICIAL

Dear Ms Goodwin

Request for information: Children and family social workers: FOI request

Reference: argyllbuteir:13717

I refer to your request for information which was dealt with in terms of
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

I have provided the following information in fulfilment of your request:

1. How many social workers have been working with children and families in
your local authority over the last five years? Please provide total
figures for 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/2022 to present.
(These should be calculated as full-time equivalents).

Please see attached spreadsheet FOI 1317 Qs 1-2b

2a. How many social workers working with children and families in your
local authority have been absent due to long-term sickness – a period of
sickness absence which lasts for 28 calendar days or more? Please provide
figures for 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/2022 to present.

Please see attached spreadsheet FOI 1317 Qs 1-2b

2b) How many of these long-term absences are due to stress?

Please see attached spreadsheet FOI 1317 Qs 1-2b.

3. How many cases requiring the support of children and family social
workers did deal with in your local authority over the last five years?
Please provide total figures for 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and
2021/2022 to present.

Please see table below.

4. What has been the average caseload of children and family social
workers for 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/2022 to present?

Please see table below.

Financial Year Q3 No. clients with allocation to a Q4 Average Caseload
worker
2017/18 1094 17
2018/19 1000 17
2019/20 920 15
2020/21 876 14
2021/22* 801 12

*For FY 2021/22 figures have been provided to end December 2021.

Please note:

Q3  - To provide an answer to this question we have assumed that by ‘cases
requiring support’ you mean the number of clients age 18 or less who have
had an allocated social worker at any point within the financial year. A
client may have had more than one allocated worker within the financial
year period. In this case the client has been counted once.

Q4 - A client may have more than one allocated worker within the financial
year period. For Q4 the average calculation means they will be counted
against each worker they were allocated to within the period.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request for information
has been dealt with you are entitled to request a review by writing to the
Executive Director Customer Services, Argyll and Bute Council, Kilmory,
Lochgilphead, Argyll PA31 8RT, or by email to [1][Argyll and Bute Council request email].

Your request for review must state your name and address for
correspondence, specify the request for information to which your request
for review relates and why you are dissatisfied with the response.

You must make your request for review not later than 40 working days after
the expiry of the 20 working day period for response to your initial
request by the Council, or not later than 40 working days after the
receipt by you of the information provided, any fees notice issued or any
notification of refusal or partial refusal.

If you make an application for review and remain dissatisfied with the way
in which the review has been dealt with you are entitled to make an
application to the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9DS (Tel: 01334 464610) for a
further review. You can now do this online here -
[2]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal.

You must make representation to the Scottish Information Commissioner no
later than 6 months after the date of receipt by you of the notice or
decision you are dissatisfied with or within 6 months of the expiry of the
period of 20 working days from receipt by the Council of your request for
review.

Yours sincerely

David Sinclair

Compliance and Regulatory Assistant

Legal and Regulatory Services

01546 604352

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Argyll and Bute Council classify the sensitivity of emails according to
the Government Security Classifications.

Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If
you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for
delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or
deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken
in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.

In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender
by reply email. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this
message that do not relate to the official business of Argyll and Bute
Council shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.

All communications sent to or from Argyll and Bute Council may be subject
to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

This email has been scanned for viruses, vandals and malicious content.

References

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1. mailto:[Argyll and Bute Council request email]
2. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal