There are about 2,000 vacancies for social workers in Britain. The vacancy rate in child and family services is as high as 23 percent. In some parts of the country, including London, vacancy rates are 30 to 40 percent. Staff are quitting because of the stress of increased workloads.

The Department of Health has launched a campaign to convince potential social workers that the profession does not have a poor image, and that they should undertake training. One county, Kent, has responded with the innovative strategy of paying people while they are being trained as social workers. This is popular: the first 14 places at college attracted 650 applicants. Kent has thereby reduced its vacancy rate to 3.7 percent.

However, some employers are looking to Spain to recruit social workers because Spain tends to train more social workers than it needs. For instance, at the school of social work in Barcelona, some of the 800 students in training would fail to find work due to lean staffing in Spanish social services departments. An ability to speak English does not appear to be a problem. International recruiting is not new. The British health service already employs approximately 400 Spanish nurses and 80 Spanish doctors!

(Updated January 15, 2002)