YORK'S children's services lost over a dozen social workers last year, figures have revealed.

Nineteen full time social workers left their roles from September 2020-21, all of whom had been in their roles for less than five years, with seven under two years, according to the Department for Education for York.

They are among the 63 in total who have left their jobs since 2017.

This places York ahead of the national turn-over rate, standing at 18.3 per cent since 2017, up from 13.3 per cent the year before, the national rate being 15.4.

The British Association of Social Workers have cited 'unmanageable caseloads and deteriorating working conditions' as to why 5,000 of children's social workers across England have resigned.

Anne Coyle, Interim Director of Children’s Services, at the City of York Council told The Press what they are doing in an effort to recruit more social workers.

She said: "Social work can be an incredibly rewarding, but also challenging career, which is why recruiting and retaining social workers is an issue across the country.

"In York, we have responded by putting in place high-quality career progression opportunities for our social workers, together with manageable caseloads, excellent supervision and competitive rates of pay.

"We have also launched a Social Work Academy to support our newly qualified social workers in their first year of work, which helps us to recruit the best social work graduates.

"Last year, we launched a national recruitment campaign to attract social workers to the city, highlighting the difference that social workers in York can make to the children, young people, families and adults they work with."

There were 19 social worker vacancies advertised in York last year, up from 13 in 2020, amongst the 6,500 nationally.

There were 41 new starters last year, which brought the number of full time social workers in York to 101, which is up from 91 five years previously.

Anthony Dhadwal, senior press officer for the British Association of Social Workers, said the association has warned the Government over the lack of support for new social workers, and the number of experienced staff leaving.

He said: "Time and time again the reasons our members have given have remained consistent – unmanageable caseloads, deteriorating working conditions and a lack of resources to help families.

"Without a fully staffed and resourced workforce, we risk social workers not being able to meet their obligations as individuals, and teams will be overstretched."