5.1 The Structure of the Service

Since 1973 there have been five EWS divisional areas within the SELB, which over time and with demographic changes had developed considerable inequalities both in area size and number of EWOs. The role of the SEWO was both to manage the team and to undertake casework. In practice this meant that SEWOs did not have time to undertake their management duties as their casework took up the majority of their time. As a result of this it was not possible for the SEWOs to have time to manage effectively and frequently EWOs did not receive the necessary supervision to ensure they managed their casework effectively. In order to address these issues it is recommended that the board area is rationalised into four team areas with a senior education welfare officer (SEWO) managing each team of EWOs. The aim of this is to improve the management of the EWS by ensuring that SEWOs have sufficient time to manage and supervise the work undertaken by the EWOs and to improve the liaison between the SEWO and the schools within their area team. SEWOs will be responsible for managing between 5 - 7 EWOs. The area teams are:

The allocation of EWOs to area teams will be kept under review in order to respond to changing needs within the SELB.