Social work staffing expenditure

The request was successful.

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

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Case Reference: 101004802949
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RE: Your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Case Reference: 101004802949

Dear M. Richards

Thank you for your email.

It will be treated as a request within the meaning of the Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it.

If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

Yours sincerely

FOI Unit

Solutions Team

Cheshire West and Chester Council

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FOI West, Cheshire West and Chester Council

Dear M Richards

Your FOI response is due today. I would like to apologise as we have not yet been able to compile the response to your request. The service is working to provide the information as soon as possible and we hope to have the response with you shortly.

Please accept my apologies for this delay.

Disclosures Team – Customer Relations and Information
Cheshire West and Chester Council
Tel: 0300 123 8 123
Email: [email address]
Location: Cheshire West and Chester Council, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port CH65 0BE
Visit: cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

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FOI West, Cheshire West and Chester Council

1 Attachment

Dear M Richards

Thank you for your request for information of 9th of June 2018 which has been logged as 4802949 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We confirm that Cheshire West and Chester Council holds information relating to your request. I apologise for the delay in sending you this response.

For the purpose of clarity your request has been reproduced on the attached spreadsheet with the accompanying responses.

We trust this answers your query.

The Council considers that your request has been answered in full by either confirming that information is not held, providing you with the information requested, or explaining why any information has been withheld and the reasons for any redaction. Where applicable, the Council has also told you the reasons for the delay in responding to your request.

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled you can request a review by writing to the Information Disclosures Team within 40 working days from the date of the Council’s response.

You are entitled to a review by the Council if:
• You are dissatisfied with the Council’s explanation of why the application was not dealt with within the 20 working day time limit.
• All the information requested is not being disclosed and you have not received an explanation why some information is not being disclosed.
• A reason for the disclosures under the request being refused is not received.
• You consider that exemptions have been wrongly applied, and/or
• You consider that a fee has been wrongly applied.

Please set out your grounds for seeking a review together with what specific part of your request those grounds apply to and the outcome you are seeking. The Council reserves the right to ask you for clarification of the grounds for your review request if the grounds are not clear, and to delay commencing the review if such grounds are not provided.

The Information Disclosures Team can be contacted by email via: [Cheshire West and Chester Council request email] or at the following address:

Information Governance
Cheshire West and Chester Council
HQ
58 Nicholas Street
Chester
CH1 2NP

The Information Disclosures Team will acknowledge a request for an internal review within 5 working days and complete the review as soon as possible and no later than 40 working days from receipt of the request.

More information about the Council’s internal review process can be found via:

http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk...

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your review, you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Website: www.ico.org.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance
Cheshire West and Chester Council

PD ( INH)

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