Social Workers (FOI)

Request 

Please confirm for the years from 2015 to 2021 (or what is currently available) the following:-
A

How many social workers are employed by Jersey each year

B

The average salary of the social workers each year

C

The split of the health and social services total government spending between "health" and "social services" (this number should reconcile to the figure stated in the states account each year. I appreciate this may be difficult so a best endeavours estimate is fine.

D

A brief explanation as to why these parts of government are accounted for together rather than as separate parts 

Response 

A

The following table provides a yearly breakdown for the number of individuals employed with the role title of "Social Worker" within the Health and Community Services (HCS) and Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) departments as at the end of each reporting period. 

Note: The above figures may not include all individuals employed in roles requiring a professional social working qualification (such as those in management roles). Agency staff are those individuals not directly employed by the Government of Jersey but who work on behalf of a third party contracted provider. The Health and Community Services department do utilise a small number of agency staff, generally to provide cover during recruitment or for long-term absences (such as maternity), however information on exact numbers is not held centrally in a retrievable format and to extract the information requested would exceed the cost limit provisions allowed under Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

B

The following table provides a yearly breakdown of average salary costs for the number of individuals employed with the role title of "Social Worker" within the Health and Community Services (HCS) and Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) departments.  

Note: The above figures provide the average yearly base salary.  This has been calculated using the year-end Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and calculated as if all individuals were employed for the full calendar year. These figures will only include those individuals directly employed by the Government of Jersey and will therefore not include agency staff. 

C

Government spending by the Health & Community Services department (Health & Social Services does not exist as a department) is not directly split into the categories requested. 

The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 gives a right to request information that is held in recorded form, unless exempt.  The information requested is not held and therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

D

This question is asking for an explanation as to the government structure which the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not require us to provide.  The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 gives a right to request information that is held in recorded form, unless exempt.  Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Article applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of "information held by a public authority" 

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if – 

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority. 

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive 

(1)     A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

(2)     Despite paragraph (1), a scheduled public authority may still supply the information requested on payment to it of a fee determined by the authority in the manner prescribed by Regulations for the purposes of this Article.

(3)     Regulations may provide that, in such circumstances as the Regulations prescribe, if two or more requests for information are made to a scheduled public authority –

(a)     by one person; or

(b)     by different persons who appear to the scheduled public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.