40% of people in social care jobs believe their caseloads are unmanageable, according to a new poll.

As reported by Community Care, a further two-thirds of social workers say their caseload has grown over the last year. Even more worryingly is the statistic that over half of social work managers say the morale of their team has dropped.

The survey of over 200 practitioners found that, overall, 84% of people in social care jobs said they often need to work overtime to get work done.

"Excessive caseloads are a problem for many social work teams, and they can have a significant effect on frontline workers' ability to do their jobs effectively," said Jonathan Coxon, MD of the company behind the research.

He continued: "We have seen how unmanageable caseloads can lead to dangerous working conditions and cerate risks for vulnerable children, and this situation will persist until caseloads are addressed."

High caseloads were a particular problem for child protection workers. Over 40% of staff said their current caseload was "unmanageable" and a further 16% said it was "totally unmanageable". Over three quarters said that 70% of their time was spent on administrative work.

The news comes less than a year after the Social Work Task Force found that those in social work jobs in England were trapped in a vicious circle of high caseloads caused by staff shortages.

The poll also found that social workers blamed negative media coverage for a drop in morale. This is supported by the Social Work Task Force which said that a poor public image of social work has sparked recruitment problems and compromised the ability of social workers to deliver a good service.