A NEWPORT councillor has said it’s an 'incredibly difficult time' for social care workers at the moment, as pressure on the workforce has intensified.

On Tuesday, December 6, a report presented to the performance scrutiny (people) committee revealed the delivery of children and adult services is at risk.

At the meeting, Natalie Poyner, head of children’s services at Newport City Council, said: “Our biggest pressure is workforce. We are struggling at the moment to encourage young people [and] adults into the social work profession and that’s for a number of reasons.”

Ms Pyner added that the complexity of the issues that families are facing is also contributing to the increased workload of staff.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service has found that Newport City Council currently has 195 vacancies, 32 of which are in the adult and community services and 22 are in children’s services.

The average time a position is vacant in the adult and community department is 14 months, for children’s services it’s an average of five months.

Cabinet member for social care, Cllr Jason Hughes, said: “It’s an incredibly difficult time for social care workers and for social care staff across the board.

“I have been in social work for 25 years and I have never seen it as hard as it is now. I think that reflects itself in recruitment when talking about workforce, all the way through to public services in domiciliary care.”

Cllr Hughes, who represents Caerleon, added: “People can only take so much. Making sure the support we give staff on the side is equally as important as work we do on the inside to recruit.”

Cllr Trevor Watkins, who represents Tredegar Park and Marshfield, suggested the council put pressure on Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) to provide financial support.

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s social care department also revealed workforce issues in November – the council has since agreed to set-up a dedicated internal recruitment team.