Kent County Council has paid more than £4 million in retention payments and “golden hellos” to more than 1,200 social workers in the last three years, figures obtained by the KM Group show.

Between 2014 and 2017, the authority spent £3.8m on retention payments and £360,707 in “golden hellos” to encourage social workers to take up jobs and stay on.

The figures underline the challenges faced by KCC in trying to hold on to social workers as record numbers leave the profession.

Social services chiefs say they are reviewing the payment scheme to assess its effectiveness.

It has also emerged the council is pursuing 29 former social workers who took up jobs but left after less than two years and should have repaid some or all of the money received by way of “golden hellos”.

Of the 29 ex-staff, 14 owe £1,000 and 10 owe £2,000.

Like many authorities, KCC has found recruitment of social workers more difficult in recent years, with many citing the pressure and workload as reasons for not taking up jobs.

The introduction of retention payments and golden hellos has become increasingly common ways of improving the number of permanent staff.

The council also offers generous relocation expenses of as much as £8,000.

Despite the incentives, KCC continues to rely on agency staff to plug significant gaps in the workforce but the costs are high.

Since 2011, the authority has offered a £2,000 “golden hello” to new social workers. It has also offered lump sum bonuses worth £3,000 to those meeting targets to deal with cases.

According to the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), a survey carried out in 2017 revealed more than 50% of staff were considering leaving the profession.

‘The UK Social Workers: Working Conditions and Wellbeing’ study painted a picture of ‘spun out’ social workers leaving the profession in droves.

It found that 52% of social workers intended to leave the profession within 15 months, increasing to 55% for social workers in children’s services.

It found that “massive, unmanageable caseloads, a lack of professional and peer support and burdensome red-tape and bureaucracy” were among the chief reasons cited by more than 70% of social workers surveyed.

A spokesman for BASW said: “Ever increasing demand but diminishing resources is pushing social services to the brink, and social workers are bearing the brunt.”

We asked KCC these questions about the scheme

Question: What is the extent of the authority's reliance on temporary staff in social services?

Answer: For children’s services, the target for 2017-18 is to have 85% substantive staffing in caseholding posts. We are currently at 82% which has increased from 80% at the start of 2017. Fourteen percent of posts are currently being filled by locum social workers. For adults, locum workers are used to fill gaps in teams that cannot be covered through other means.

Question: Are these payments considered effective?

Answer: A golden hello has mainly been offered for newly qualified social worker recruitment in children’s services but was not offered in the 2016 or 2017 recruitment campaigns. We are reviewing what impact this has had on recruitment and retention of NQSWs (Newly qualified social workers).

Golden hellos have also been used on a time limited basis to attract locum social workers to move to KCC employment, which has had some success. Payments are being used in specific areas of adult social care and for specific hard-to-recruit roles, such as mental health practitioners. We are currently reviewing the impact on recruitment and retention of staff.

Question: Does Kent have more difficulty recruiting staff than other areas?

Answer: This is a national issue but some parts of Kent find it more difficult to attract experienced social workers because of their location, particularly within coastal districts in children’s services. For adult care, the proximity to London is a limiting factor in recruitment.