Child social care workers in Poole to get laptops as 'significant productive time lost'

According to a report to Cllr Mike White, whose portfolio is children and young people, “significant social worker productive time is consistently lost (for example, when waiting in court or during home visits) through not having access to information”.

Nearly £230,000 is due to be spent on providing 158 staff with Windows 10 laptop/tablet devices.

It will mean Poole council finally catching up with councils across the UK, including Dorset and Bournemouth, which already provide mobile working for social care practitioners and their managers. Social workers with laptops will be able to access all the information they need while out of the office, freeing up their time to support young people and their families.

Among the other benefits of mobile working outlined in the report to Cllr White are: immediate access to documents; the ability to work remotely during train journeys and meetings; instant access to emails, and the ability to input information directly onto the system outside the office.

“Paper copies of sensitive data are a serious data protection risk; the solution will eliminate the need for social workers to print sensitive client documents and produce handwritten notes, thereby reducing the risk of data breaches,” the report adds.

The council will purchase devices costing £859 for each staff member, and money will also be spent on digital monitors, docking stations, and laptop bags, among other items.

Cllr White has been asked to approve the allocation of funds from the children’s services revenue budget to help purchase the devices.

“The proposed solution will support staff working with children and young people to be more efficient in their working practices and improve workflow,” the report concludes.

“At the same time it will improve service delivery for the client, not only in regards to improved communications but also the security of their personal information and mitigate against data breaches.”