ALMOST a third of social care jobs within the local authority are vacant, new figures reveal.

Research obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 30.8 per cent of social care jobs in Waltham Forest’s children and adult services have not been filled by a permanent member of staff since the end of January.

The figures show a average 10.9 per cent vacancy rate in the 96 councils which responded to the national survey – putting Waltham Forest particularly high.

Neighbouring Rebridge Council did not provide the figures for the survey and Newham London Borough Council admitted it had 18.6 per cent of vacancies.

The figures, which were obtained from councils by social care specialist magazine Community Care over the past two months, also show an increase in England’s vacancy rate, which has been almost 10 per cent since 2006.

However, it is feared that the actual vacancy rate may be much higher because many councils count agency staff as filling vacant posts.

Last October, a social worker in Children’s Services for Waltham Forest who was previously struck off for mishandling a case of child abuse, was reinstated at a Care Standards Tribunal after it was ruled that the decision to remove her was "too severe".

It was reported at the hearing that there had been “apparent chaos” within the team at that time because a manager had been suspended, leaving just an interim manager and an apprentice deputy team manager who needed more support from senior management.