A Workforce Development Team’s Reflections on Social Work Retention and Turnover in South-East London, UK

Statutory children’s services in England experience a high turnover of social work staff. Workforce development teams from these services are seen as part of the solution to reduce the haemorrhaging of social workers. However, how do those working in these teams imagine the world of staff turnover? This paper presents the perspectives of three experienced social workers from a workforce development team in South-East London on staff churn and retention. Informed by a collective experience of over 80 years in social work practice, management and mentoring roles, Sharon, Shalini and Corlea reflect and speculate on two contrasting experiences of social workers interviewed for a research project on staff turnover. Sharon, Shalini and Corlea imagine why these two practitioners might stay or leave their social work employment and consider their own team’s and their wider organisation’s contribution to tackle turnover.