Official reply:06/07/11
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION 899/2011
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Date of publication on internal question paper: 18 March 2011
Internal question paper no: 08
Mrs S U Paulse (ID) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
(1) With reference to her reply to questions 1167 and 3113 for written
reply on 28 July 2010 and 14 December 2010, and question 43 for oral
reply on 10 March 2010, how does her department intend to further deal
with the (a) shortage and (b) training of social workers;
(2) What is the current breakdown in terms of (a) ratio and (b) number of
social workers to residents (i) in each province and (ii) countrywide?
NW1012E
REPLY:
1(a) The Department of Social Development intends to undertake the
following in order to deal with the shortage of social workers:
⢠Encourage High School learners in the rural areas to apply for the
scholarship programme with the aim of addressing the shortage of
social workers in rural areas.
⢠Recruit retired social workers to assist in service delivery and to
provide supervision and mentoring services to newly qualified
social workers.
⢠Intensify the recruitment, training and employment of social
auxiliary workers and child and youth workers to deliver services
that do not require direct social work attention. This will ease
the burden of workload on social workers.
(b) With regard to the training of social workers the Department is
presently providing scholarships to 3 921 social work students who have
been confirmed and approved to continue with their studies at level two
to four. Furthermore, 565 deserving students who are already studying
social work will be considered for funding this year. The bursary
amount per student has also been increased to accommodate the increase
in university fees and living costs.
R244 million has been allocated for the financial year 2011/12 for the
scholarship programme.
2(a)(i) The current ratio of social workers in each province is as follows:
|PROVINCE |RATIO: EXISTING SOCIAL WORKER: |
| |GOVERNMENT AND NGOâS (1) |
| |(Rounded up) |
| | |
|GP |3000 |
|KZN |4000 |
|MP |6000 |
|NW |4000 |
|WC |2000 |
|EC |3000 |
|FS |4000 |
|NC |3000 |
|Limp |4000 |
|TOTAL |3000 |
2(a)(ii) The current ratio of social workers countrywide is 1:3 000
(b)(i)The following is an indication of the social workers to
residents/population per province:
|PROVINCE |POPULATION (2010) |EXISTING SOCIAL |
| | |WORKER: GOVERNMENT|
| |(STATISTICS ACCESSED ON THE |AND NGO'S (2010) |
| |WEBSITE | |
| |-http://www.safrica.info/about/fa| |
| |cts.htm-ON 31 March 2011) | |
|GP |11 191 700 |3956 |
|KZN |10 645 400 |2608 |
|MP |3 617 600 |629 |
|PROVINCE |POPULATION (2010) |EXISTING SOCIAL |
| | |WORKER: GOVERNMENT|
| | |AND NGO'S (2010) |
| |(STATISTICS ACCESSED ON THE | |
| |WEBSITE | |
| |-http://www.safrica.info/about/fa| |
| |cts.htm-ON 31 March 2011) | |
|NW |3 200 900 |754 |
|WC |5 223 900 |2961 |
|EC |6 743 800 |1934 |
|FS |2 824 500 |711 |
|NC |1 103 900 |436 |
|Limp |5 439 600 |1225 |
|TOTAL |49 991 300 |15214 |
(b)(ii) The total number of social workers to residents countrywide is
15Â 214 to 49 991 300. The current ratio of social workers
countrywide is 1:3 000.
The table below indicates the number of clients that received social
welfare services during 2009/10 financial year. (Source: National
Treasury provincial data base)
|Provision of |Government |Non Government |Total clients |
|services |clients |clients | |
|Substance abuse |36309 |6258 |36309 |
|Older persons |45742 |76223 |121965 |
|Persons with |614 |10134 |10748 |
|disability | | | |
|Child care and |67592 |298464 |366056 |
|protection | | | |
|services | | | |
|Crime prevention |57702 |Not broken down |
|and support | |between |
| | |government and |
| | |NGOâs |
|HIV and Aids |267166 |Not broken down |
|support from HCBC| |between |
|organisations | |government and |
| | |NGOâs |
|TOTAL CLIENT |150257 |391078 |556443 |
|SERVED | | | |
The total number of social workers to actual clients provided with social
welfare services during 2009/10 financial year residents countrywide is
15Â 214 to 556443. The ratio is 1 social worker to 36 clients.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
It should be noted that the existing number of social workers reflects
social workers employed by government and NGOâs; the ratio has therefore
been calculated based on the existing social workers employed by
government and NGOâs.
The breakdown in terms of the established national and international norm
for ratio of social workers to population is 1:5000. This norm of 1:3000
is less than the international norm, because of the high levels of
poverty and deprivation in South Africa; it has been adjusted to reflect
different conditions and needs.
|PROVINCE |POPULATION |EXISTING |RATIO:EXISTING|RATIO: EXISTING |
| |(2010) |SOCIAL |SOCIAL WORKER:|SOCIAL WORKER: |
| | |WORKER: |GOVERNMENT AND|GOVERNMENT AND |
| | |GOVERNMENT |NGO'S |NGO'S(1:) |
| |(STATISTICS |AND NGO'S | | |
| |ACCESSED ON |(2010) | | |
| |THE WEBSITE | | | |
| |-http://www.s| | | |
| |africa.info/a| | | |
| |bout/facts.ht| | | |
| |m-ON 31 March| | | |
| |2011) | | | |
| | | |(Actual) |(Rounded up) |
|GP |11 191 700 |3956 |2829 |3000 |
|KZN |10 645 400 |2608 |4081 |4000 |
|MP |3 617 600 |629 |5751 |6000 |
|NW |3 200 900 |754 |4245 |4000 |
|WC |5 223 900 |2961 |1764 |2000 |
|EC |6 743 800 |1934 |3486 |3000 |
|FS |2 824 500 |711 |3973 |4000 |
|NC |1 103 900 |436 |2532 |3000 |
|Limp |5 439 600 |1225 |4440 |4000 |
|TOTAL |49 991 300 |15214 |3286Â |3000Â |
As part of the recruitment and retention strategy, the Department
continue to recruit and train Social Auxilliary Workers to augment the
services as provided by the professional social workers.
The Department has through the Council for Social Services Professions,
established an interim structure for Child and Youth Care. This will
facilitate in the recruitment and training of more Child and Youth Care
Workers to provide the needed services in the area of child and youth
care work.
A total of 6 040 social work students were recruited and funded between
2007 and 2010. The following numbers of social work were absorbed into
employment: 816 (2008); 1244 (2009) with a total of 1 177 students who
completed their studies in 2010, currently being absorbed into
employment.