Phillips urges hastening of efforts to hire more social workers
Published:Saturday | November 11, 2023 | 12:06 AM
CHAIRMAN OF the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) Mikael Phillips has urged the administration to step up its efforts to recruit more social workers to effectively administer the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).
His comments came against the background of an admission by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Colette Roberts Risden that the ministry did not have an adequate number of social workers.
Phillips argued that the Government was spending billions of dollars on PATH, but there was an insufficient number of social workers to assist the ministry in carrying out its critical mandate of helping the dispossessed through its key social intervention programme.
At a meeting of the PAAC on Wednesday at Gordon House, Roberts Risden told lawmakers that the ministry currently has 124 social workers across the country.
There is one social worker assigned to every 1,000 families, a ministry report stated.
“We are challenged because of the number of social workers in the ministry,” Roberts Risden added.
The permanent secretary said that plans are under way to recruit additional social workers.
She said that with the increase in salaries under the compensation review, the ministry is expecting to attract more social workers to fill at least 50 positions.
“We are in the process, along with the Ministry of Finance, to expand our complement … . In another couple of months, the establishment will be growing,” she said.
Roberts Risden noted that there was a heavy demand for social workers in the justice system and to support the work of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency.
Phillips questioned whether agencies like HEART/NSTA Trust provided training for social workers to meet the increased demand in the public service.
“Since we are saying that we don’t have enough trained individuals out there and we have a premier training institution such as HEART, and if we are looking at the job survey then we would have picked that up and directed individuals to train in that area,” Phillips said.
Highlighting the plight of some single-parent families who are in need of counselling and guidance in the area of family life, committee member Fitz Jackson said that social workers could play a crucial role in that regard.
He said that PATH, the main social safety net programme of the labour ministry, was designed to assist families facing serious economic challenges.
“Social intervention is critical to curtail a deteriorating family economic situation – that is what PATH is all about – an attempt to mitigate economic challenges of households of families,” Jackson said.
He indicated that the objective of PATH would not be fully achieved without an adequate number of social workers to work with the target groups that need assistance.