State agencies for social workers are having to resort to ‘quick fixes’ to address the significant shortage of social workers in the country, by bringing in unqualified persons for the role, PN MP Graziella Attard Previ said.

The country has a significant shortage of social workers which is followed by a low retention rate of the existing ones. Attard Previ spoke about this issue in a parliamentary sitting in the debate on the financial estimates within the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights.

She had said that circumstances which social workers face are many and difficult, which could lead to risks of burnout. Attard Previ added the government should be providing more resources in this regard.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, Attard Previ, a senior social worker herself, said that there are significant problems within the social work industry which do not attract new ones to the sector.

Attard Previ mentioned more competition and more lucrative jobs elsewhere, which resulted in the low shortage, and that there are better ‘vocations’ with better pay.

She said that social work is a stressful job which is not considered as prestigious as other professions. Social workers are also paid insufficiently, which is the major deterrent to prospective social workers.

What puts off social work students and warranted social workers off the most is that agencies have been resorting to employ under-qualified persons to do social work, as a result of a lack of social workers, she said.

 “One can become a social worker through a BA (Hons) in social work or Master’s in Social Work (MSW). Why should anyone read for an MSW, a two-year full-time master's degree to become a social worker, when the message agencies are giving is ‘everyone can do social work’. Graduates with a degree in Humanities are being engaged as Social Welfare Professionals and doing social work,” Attard Previ said.

Many social workers are also choosing to change their profession, getting post-graduate qualifications in counselling, family therapy and therapy to change their profession.

Attard Previ said that these professions also seem more prestigious and have better private practice opportunities. Social work in the Maltese context has proven to be difficult to take place, as most social work clients cannot, or would not, pay for private social work.

“We know that private practice and overtime boost income,” she said.

“Agencies are also giving the subtle message that being a social worker is not enough; you need to be a therapist to be a real professional. They are conveying that social workers are substitutable, and everyone can do it,” she said.

Government had said that social workers’ conditions within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) are good, yet a report made by CEO of the FSWS Alfred Grixti showed that the foundation is experiencing shortages as well.

Asked if this could be an issue of non-adequate conditions, Attard Previ said that the real question to Grixti should be: ‘what is the net pay?’ that a social worker starts with every four weeks? She said that a senior social worker receives €1,200 for 30 hours.

“The fact that Grixti is complaining that there is a shortage of social workers shows two things; that he is admitting that the better pay packages that he is boasting about are insufficient, and that pay may not be the only problem,” she said.

Attard Previ said that when one has a very stressful job, with low professional status and respect, and works in bureaucratic agencies, one starts asking themselves if it is worth it.

Moreover, whilst doing overtime in other professions is normal, in social work, overtime often means dealing with crisis, which would be often deemed as time in lieu.

“Very often, the answer is ‘no’,” she said.

Another problem is that the FSWS is so large that social workers have fewer opportunities to go elsewhere.

“In the past, if workers wanted a change, they moved to Sedqa. At least they had this opportunity of mobility. Now it is even restricted and the FSWS monopoly does not help,” Attard Previ said.

Still, how can one tackle this situation? Is it the government’s attempt of giving social worker roles to otherwise unqualified persons solely for the sake of filling in a gap? Is the government considering the standards and necessary training needed to be a social worker?

Attard Previ said that social work is a warranted profession with a law which regulates it, being the Social Work Profession Act.

To become a social worker, students have at least two practical placements. To get the warrant, graduated social workers must receive at least two years of full-time practice under the supervision of a warranted social worker.

“Social workers must follow a code of ethics. If they breach it, they must answer the Social Work Profession Board. The latter may sanction the social worker’s unethical behaviour,” Attard Previ said.

She said that the very reason why social work a regulated profession is to ensure standards.

A social worker who breaches the code of ethics cannot simply resign from one agency and joins another.

“The code of ethics of the profession is beyond that particular agency. These are safeguards to protect the clients from malpractice. Regulation means accountability after all,” Attard Previ said.

“The social worker profession act entered into force in 2004. Now we are reversing history. It seems that the message now is: the warrant is no longer necessary; anyone can do it,” she reiterated.

Attard Previ said that while salaries have improved over the years, the pay is still demotivating and a factor as to why people don’t stay.

“Nobody gives you lower interest rates and low tariffs because you are a social worker,” Attard Previ said.

She added that career progression is limited, and very often social workers choose management to progress in their career.

“We need to incentivise persons to stay as front liners if they want to. Look at the medical profession, for instance. A consultant is still a front liner and still work with the patients directly. Can we not think along these lines?” Attard Previ said.

She encouraged people to also go into leadership and management with a social work background if they wish to.

A lack of a specific profession has not been uncommon in Malta, with the most prominent ones being a shortage of teachers and nurses. Attard Previ was asked if government would have to resort to importing foreign social workers to address the issue, as it has done and continues to do for nurses.

“Social workers give emotional and social support to vulnerable people who, most of them, prefer to, or can only speak Maltese. While there are specialised areas that can employ social workers who are non-Maltese speakers, most services have to be run by Maltese-speaking social workers,” she said.

Moreover, in certain countries, such as the United Kingdom, social workers are more esteemed, and better paid. “They would not be attracted to work in Malta,” Attard Previ said.

Attard Previ suggested the increased investment in the profession, in terms of better pay packages, prestige and respect towards the role.

She said that agencies should offer better incentives so that persons with a first degree in non-social work choose MSW as a post-graduate.

Attard Previ added that agencies should refrain from complaining about the low supply of social workers, “when they cannot manage their own haemorrhage of the social workers from their agencies.”

Asked how government can provide more resources or incentives for social workers, who have to handle overwhelming circumstances, often leading to burnout, Attard Previ said that there needs to be an investigation on why people are leaving in the first place and offer better support for the profession.

“You cannot attract new candidates if the profession is not attractive,” she said, adding that there were instances where people had completed their degree in social work, and never entered the field.

Government had stated that while there is indeed a lack of social workers, the working conditions of the FSWS are good, with around 21,000 persons making use of the service.

Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon has also said that government must incentivize the sector to attract more people towards it.