02 November 2021
Jersey's Government has launched a new national recruitment campaign to build a more permanent and highly-skilled workforce of social workers.
The new Let's Be Ambitious recruitment campaign follows on from the award-winning Let's Be Honest campaign, which was launched in 2019.
During the first campaign almost 400 people enquired about the roles in Children's Social Care Services, in Jersey, and more than 20 newly qualified social workers were recruited. However, due to personal reasons, the pandemic, as well as cost of living concerns, the majority of those social workers have now left the Island.
The new recruitment campaign Let's Be Ambitious has been launched today, across the UK, to encourage social workers to consider what a move to Jersey would mean for them and their families, both in terms of working in a small Island community and the cost of living, while featuring stories from those currently working in Children's Social Care Services.
Director of Safeguarding and Care, Mark Owers, who features in the campaign, said:" Children and young people deserve the greatest level of safety, protection, and care.
"Services to protect and care for children in Jersey have not been good enough in the past. We are determined to improve the support and experiences of children, young people and their families who need support from the Children's Social Care Service and our partner agencies.
"We are ambitious about the future of our service and we are committed to help make Jersey the best place for children and young people to grow-up and be safe.
"We want to be honest in our campaign by highlighting the challenges social workers face in Jersey. It's a very different culture, with different legislative and operational frameworks to the UK and other places in the British Isles. While the salary and tax regime will attract people, we want them to understand that the cost of living is high and accommodation choices are constrained. But we also want them to know that the Island is stunningly beautiful, and it is one of the safest places to live and work."
Children and Education Minister, Deputy Scott Wickenden, said: "The Government of Jersey's number one strategic priority is Putting Children First. This political and government wide commitment enables Children's Social Care to grow and be creative to design and develop new services that can turn Jersey into the best place for children and young people to grow up.
"Investment is happening across all areas of Children's Social Care including the growth of early help, the development of an intensive intervention service and a highly-trained family support worker team. This is a fantastic recruitment campaign and I hope that it will attract the best social workers to join our already amazing team at Children's Social Care."
gov.je