‘People are crying at their desks’: Department with one in 11 staff on workers’ comp

Offices are sitting empty as staff providing frontline services to the state’s most vulnerable children are being placed on workers’ compensation in alarming numbers.

At present, there are 210 NSW child protection caseworkers on workers’ compensation, according to data collected by the Public Services Union, representing 9 per cent of the workforce. Caseworker compensation claims totalled nearly $2.6 million in 2023-24.

Nearly one in two NSW child protection workers leave the department within two years of their employment.Credit: iStock

In the After Hours Response Team, which provides overnight and weekend casework for urgent referrals for children assessed to be at risk of significant harm, seven of 19 caseworkers are on workers’ compensation, with a further two recently resolving claims.

A union survey of offices across NSW found severe staff shortages at 15 sites. One office was completely unstaffed, while two further offices had no caseworkers on site when visited.

A recent report by the NSW Ombudsman raised serious concerns about the child protection system, with three in four children assessed to be at risk of significant harm, including allegations of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse or serious neglect not seen by caseworkers.

The watchdog has launched a maladministration investigation into the department’s responses to reports of harm.

In March, the vacancy rate for caseworker roles was 10 per cent, with 2100 positions filled out of the 2333 funded. The vacancy rate sat between 0 and 3 per cent between 2019 and 2022, before reaching a record high of 12 per cent in the September 2023 quarter.

Staff from offices around the state, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their employment, said the job itself was stressful but many were leaving due to the toxicity of the workplace.

One caseworker on workers’ compensation said the workplace culture was the worst she’d ever seen.

“You see horrific things in homes, clients threaten you, but that’s not what breaks you – it’s the toxic work environment,” she said, adding that her requests to return to work under a different manager had not been met.

Another worker said she took stress leave after “yet another” incident of being bullied and humiliated over wanting to adhere to departmental policies on child removal.

“People are crying at their desks. The department is bleeding out. They can’t retain staff,” she said.

One in four child protection caseworkers left the department in their first two years of employment in 2023.

A department spokesperson said it was committed to addressing caseworker workforce issues, improving caseworker attrition, and providing a safe workplace.

“Targeted recruitment campaigns and strategies are in place as DCJ actively works to identify suitable candidates including those in hard-to-fill locations,” the spokesperson said.

“Each district has [tailored] an attraction and retention plan.”

Public Service Association NSW general secretary Stewart Little said there was a mass exodus of staff.

“Burnt-out and underpaid child protection workers are rushing for every exit, and the poor caseworkers left behind can’t see 80 per cent of identified at-risk kids,” he said.

“This is now a full-scale social disaster in NSW, and it requires an emergency response from government. How many of these at-risk kids being ignored are getting hurt right now?”

Unionised caseworkers are planning strike action on September 2.

They are calling for the Minns government to recruit 500 new caseworkers, give them an immediate and substantial pay rise, and de-privatise foster care.

Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington said child protection workers had received their largest pay increase in over a decade following Labor’s removal of the public sector wage cap.

Non-Aboriginal child protection caseworkers require a tertiary degree and start on $75,000 a year.

“The NSW Labor government is embarking on significant structural reform to fix the broken child protection system that we inherited … A critical element of our reform will involve the attraction and retention of caseworkers,” Washington said.

“The safety and wellbeing of children and families is our highest priority.”

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