Education secretary, Ed Balls, (pictured), has warned councils need to act quickly to address social worker recruitment issues. After eight councils were named and shamed by Ofsted and the Baby P case, there came support for the profession – and a call for those who have left social work to come back. He said it was vital that social work was seen to be a high-quality and self-confident profession with the esteem of the public. But with it came the frank admission that raising the status of the profession will take time. Mr Balls said: ‘This is a huge priority – to make sure we have the pay and the promotion and the training for social workers who do such a difficult job.'
