This country owes an enormous debt to social workers. Anyone who dedicates their professional lives to helping others, often in testing circumstances, demands our respect and gratitude.

The work they do to protect children and take care of vulnerable adults is amongst the most important responsibilities of any council, which makes the current shortage of qualified social workers a real challenge for local authorities.

To help address this, we at the Local Government Association (LGA) have worked with the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA) to produce a guide for elected members on recruiting and retaining staff.