The experiences and perspectives of agency social workers in England: Findings from interviews with those working in adult services

One of the solutions to the shortages of social workers in England has been to employ

social workers on a temporary or locum basis, often these social workers are called agency social

workers as their contract of employment is with a employment agency rather than the social work

employer. This paper explores the background to the use of agency social workers in the current

context of government efforts to reduce the expenditure of public sector employers on agency staff.

Data were collected through interviews with 40 social workers working with adults in England, in

three diverse local authority settings; spanning those social workers whose careers in social work

were in their early years; those with that were experienced and third group who while experienced

and specialist were considering possible retirement or career moves. The aim of the interviews was to

investigate motivations and experiences around this type of social work employment. The findings of

the interviews are presented, with illustrations of ‘push and pull’ factors around agency working. The

article concludes that agency working presents opportunities for social workers that may be within

the power of social work employers to foster more generally, such as ways to minimise ‘office politics’

and to provide greater variety of work.