Child Protection Caseworkers report chronic understaffing and staff burnout.

One in ten Child Protection Caseworker positions are unfilled in NSW. But the vacancy rate on any given day is as high as one in five, often more.

One in two Child Protection Caseworkers leave in their first two years of employment with the Department.

The Child Protection Caseworkers that are left are coping with the extra workload of colleagues who have left.

The PSA directs Community Services members to not accept or allocate cases beyond a Child Protection worker’s* contracted hours or agreed paid overtime hours. Any case that you cannot work on during a four-week Workload Planner period should NOT be allocated to you. This means that if a child/case has zero activity hours in your Workload Planner, that child is not to be allocated to you on ChildStory.

The PSA continues to advocate for and are in consultation with DCJ on the development of a new, up to date, user-friendly workload planner and training in its use to assist with implementation.

Until the new workload planner is rolled out, PSA directs members to use the Workload Planner HERE.  The Planner includes an example sheet for your reference.  For those members who have not yet used a WLP, handy hints can also be found HERE.

Reason for the direction

In line with the current Child Protection in Crisis campaign, PSA has been raising concerns about:

• The unrealistic and unsafe expectation you must do more with less resources
• Members working excessive and unsafe hours
• Productivity targets imposed on Districts resulting in excessive workloads
• ChildStory issues continue to add significantly more time doing administrative work
• Child Protection Casework attrition worsening as employees choose to leave, or are forced to leave Community Services due to excessive workloads and the current oppressive work environments.

*Child Protection workers include, Caseworkers, Casework Specialists, Casework Support Officers, Manager Caseworkers, Administrative Support Officers, Psychologists, and Legal Officers.

Your newly elected Community Services Departmental Committee will be meeting on 9 October 2024 to discuss next steps in the ‘Child Protection in Crisis’ Campaign. The direction for all members to use the Workload Planner is crucial. We need to stand united to achieve our goals. You need to protect yourself and your union is there to ensure you are safe at work.

If you are interested in a PSA Workload Planner ‘Lunch and Learn’ member meeting, please contact Senior Organiser Belinda Tsirekas as below.

For further information, please contact your workplace Delegate, Departmental Committee Delegate or PSA Organiser.

 PSA Industrial Staff

Member Support Centre – 1800 772 679

Industrial Officer
Graydon Welsh

Senior Organiser
Belinda Tsirekas