UPDATE NO 244 01 April 2017

Children’s Workforce IR35 Tax Changes for Agency Social Workers

In late February we e-mailed all the DCS’s in the region asking how they were planning to deal with IR35 when rules change for agency social workers and managers, the issue was also discussed at the recent regional DCS meeting. To date responses have been received from 16 of the 19 authorities. 

All responses received indicated the authorities are planning to either refuse to pay any increase to compensate agency workers for increased taxes or only to do so in exceptional circumstances

Consequently we are proposing an additional clause to the MoC as set out below: 

As part of the Memorandum of Cooperation we are committed to effectively managing the agency social work market. The changes to IR35 are designed to clarify the taxation system, rather than add additional payments for agency workers.  Consequently it is the responsibility of the individual worker or their employer (the agency) to deal with any financial consequences of the changes. Signatories to the MoC will only will only increase rates in response to IR35 changes in exceptional circumstances (within the MoC Pay caps).  

To date 16 of the 18 MoC signatories have already agreed this principle, the final 2 authorities have been contacted to with a request to clarify their position. When these have been received we will update the MoC.

Children’s Workforce

On the 10^th March the ADCS published their detailed response to the DfE consultation on the Children and Social Work Bill.

They also released a press release which includes the following:

“In the context of austerity and rising demand for our services, the Association questions whether the NAAS, at a cost of £23m to the public purse, represents good value for money. Instead, this money would be much better spent on supporting front line and early help services that we know are currently under enormous strain given the deepening pressures on children social care. We would welcome further discussion with government on this.”

The Full response can be read at:

http://adcs.org.uk/assets/documentation/ADCS_response_National_assessment_and_accreditation_system.pdf

The press release can be found at:

http://adcs.org.uk/workforce/article/national-assessment-and-accreditation-system-pr

Programme SE DCS Peer Challenge

Many thanks for all your responses, the visiting teams are now filled.

The Brighton and Hove (26/27 June) team led by Steve Crocker (DCS Hampshire and IoW) will include Rachel Morgan (Head of Standards and Effectiveness at Bracknell Forest), Mark Frankland (Principal Manager, Young People Services and Family Support, West Sussex CC) and Sam Bushby (Assistant Director – Children’s Services at Surrey CC).

Many thanks for all your responses, the visiting teams are now filled.

The Brighton and Hove (26/27 June) team led by Steve Crocker (DCS Hampshire and IoW) will include Rachel Morgan (Head of Standards and Effectiveness at Bracknell Forest), Mark Frankland (Principal Manager, Young People Services and Family Support, West Sussex CC) and Sam Bushby (Assistant Director – Children’s Services at Surrey CC).