International Social Workers in England: An unknown workforce

1
International Social Workers in England An
unknown workforce?

• Shereen Hussein
• Jill Manthorpe
• Martin Stevens
• Social Care Workforce Research Unit
• Kings College London
• A study funded by
• the Department of Health Adult Social Care
  Workforce Research Initiative

2
Whats going on?

• Is there a demand for international social
  workers?
• What are their experiences, motivations and
  plans?
• What are the differences between those who have
  qualified outside and inside the UK?

3
Ways and means

• Review of literature, interviews with recruitment
  agencies (20) key stakeholders (15)
• Analysis of statistics related to social workers
  (GSCC)
• In-depth 6 case study sites interviewing
  international staff, their colleagues/managers
  and service users/carers, asylum seekers/refugees
• This presentation concentrates on social workers
  we are also looking at social care

4
Figuring it out

• Quantitative data analysis of UK and non-UK
  social workers records in England - held by
  General Social Care Council October 2008
• Comparison of characteristics of 7,200 non-UK
  social workers with approx. 74,000 social workers
  in England

5
Characteristics of non-UK social workers -

• Main countries of origin
• Australia and New Zealand (21)
• Canada and United States (18)
• South Africa (15)
• India (12)
• 18 from EEA countries (with the right to work in
  the UK- 3 from new A8 countries)

6
Characteristics of non-UK social workers
ethnicity

• Over half are White, 57
• Nearly the same proportions of Black and
  Asian (18 each)
• Those identifying themselves with Black ethnicity
  are significantly older (median age of 38 years)

7
Characteristics of non-UK social workers gender

• 55 of social workers trained in India are men
• 48 from Eastern Africa are men
• 10 of those trained in South Africa are men
• 24 of UK social workers are men

8
Characteristics of non-UK social workers age

• Significantly younger than UK SWs (median 33.6
  compared to 48.2 years)
• median age lowest (30.9 years) among those
  trained in
• A8 countries,
• followed by Australia New Zealand and other
  Eastern European countries
• Median age 40 years or higher among those who
  qualified in Eastern Africa, the Caribbean, South
  Eastern Asia and South America
• Internationally qualified men are significantly
  older than women.

9
Characteristics of non-UK qualified social
workers trends

• Percentage of White Asian social workers
  increased slightly
• Sharp increase in numbers and proportion of
  social workers trained in India
• Decline in proportion trained in Southern Africa
  (see over)

10
Characteristics of non-UK social workers trends
in country of training
11
Summary

• Numbers of non-UK trained social workers have not
  seen a dramatic change since 2004
• Composition is changing in terms of age and
  country of training , to a lesser extent,
  ethnicity
• Mobility of male social workers is higher from
  some countries than others
• Age varies among different non-UK ethnic groups
• Overall, they are significantly younger than UK
  social workers.

12
next steps

• What are the views of people using services and
  carers?
• What do colleagues and managers think?
• Will international social workers stay or return?
• Will there be a decline in overseas recruitment
  of social workers?

13
Contact details

• Shereen Hussein shereen.hussein_at_kcl.ac.uk
• Jill Manthorpe jill.manthorpe_at_kcl.ac.uk
• Martin Stevens martin.stevens_at_kcl.ac.uk