NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington grilled over case worker ‘exodus’

Questions have been raised over the decline in child protection case workers, who are tasked with the welfare of some of the state’s most vulnerable kids.

The NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington has faced a grilling over the growing exodus of child protection case workers, who are reportedly leaving the industry due to poor pay and burn out.

Numbers from the September 2023 quarter showed the vacancy rate had increased to 12 per cent, nearly doubling from the 7 per cent reported from the June 2023 quarter.

During budget estimates on Monday, Ms Washington said the missing 220 workers had a “significant” impact on the system, as the number of children in care and children at risk of significant harm have also increased by 833 to 113,425.

“I’m not going to say that caseworker vacancy isn’t having an impact on the ground in terms of caseworkers’ ability to respond to families,” she said.

“It is of great concern to me and the department in terms of ensuring that children are safe, those conversations and those that work is being done every single day across the state by incredibly hardworking, passionate dedicated caseworkers.”

Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington was grilled over increasing staffing exodus of child protection carers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

During estimates, Ms Washington was also questioned about the delay over the Department’s quarterly statistical report from December 2023, which will contain the most recent figures around caseworker vacancy rates, and the number if young people in care.

The minister faced tough questioning from Liberal MP and former families and communities minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones.

She questioned whether the delayed release was because she was “deliberately avoiding” sharing the data, with Ms Washington rejecting the claim.

While the numbers were due in March, Ms Washington said there had been accuracy issues over the figures supplied by non-government service providers.

“There was some data we needed to ensure was accurate prior to its release, so I don’t think anyone would expect us to be releasing data that was not finalised,” she said.

“In every instance there’s obviously some aspects to data capture that is a little bit difficult at times, especially with a system that we have, where we are reliant on data … often coming from non-government providers.”

The growing case worker vacancies come as the Public Service Association (PSA) is mounting a pay battle to, with union lawyers preparing to launch a work value case through the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

However, PSA general secretary Stewart Little said uncompetitive wages had led to a “full scale exodus” of child protection workers, with rates spiking to nearly 25 per cent in New England and the mid north coast.

The Public Service Association has called on the government to increase the wages of child protection case workers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“Our legal team is ready to run a work value case through the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to get fair pay for these workers, but that will take 12 months, and kids in need can’t wait that long, the system is in crisis now,” he said.

“But we don’t need to run a case, the government should simply give them a proper pay bump just like they gave paramedics and teachers last year.”

Mr Little said workers would resort to further industrial action if needed.

“It’s not rocket science, if there’s a mass exodus of workers from a sector you need to up their pay and slash their workload, and Chris Minns could do that today if he wanted, the state’s most vulnerable kids are relying on him,” he said.

“Our members working in child protection tell us they are planning widespread industrial action as the current situation is untenable.”

During estimates, Ms Washington said she had had a number of “frank and forthright” discussions with the PSA.

“We have been trying to do everything we can with a system that is literally spiralling out of control where we’ve got kids in hotels and motels,” she said.