Spread Thin Britain - Pressure Builds on Social Workers

Spread Thin Britain - Pressure Builds on Social Workers PR Newswire LONDON, August 30, 2012 LONDON, August 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- British social care professionals are working harder than they were one year ago according to research carried out by Randstad, the UK sector specialist recruiter. [1]In a survey of over 2,000 British employees , Randstad found that social care professionals feel they are performing the job of 1.5 people meaning they are covering 50% more work than one person should be - the equivalent of two and a half additional work days every week. In contrast, British employees across all sectors feel they are performing the job of 1.3 employees - an additional day and a half. While just over a quarter (27%) of those in social care feel their workload is suitable for one person, nearly a third (33%) feel that in an ideal world their role would need one full time and one part-time member of staff. 28% believe their role needs two full-time people to manage the level of work and 4% feel their role really needs at least two full-time members of staff as well as an additional part-time person. Vicky Shortoperations director of Randstad Care, said:"It's clear that public austerity measures are exerting more and more pressure on local authorities and the NHS to keep their workforces as lean as possible.Social care professionals are facing greater workloads and reduced capacity as funding restraints are causing job cuts.