 Care have highlighted concerns about Social Work time spent at the computer and about IT systems hindering, rather than helping practice [2]. This mixture of high and increasing demand on top of challenging systems creates a significant weakness. Table One: Comparison of the number of children per 10,000 who are in need, the subject of a Child Protection Plan and who are looked after by the Local Authority in North Yorkshire, Statistical Similar Neighbours, Regionally and Nationally. North Yorkshire Statistical Neighbours Yorkshire and the Humber England Children in Need 255.20 286.11 354.20 334.30 Child Protection 36.50 35.88 48.50 42.10 Looked After Children 38 62.50 81 70 Table 1: Source: Local Authority Interactive Tool (gov.uk) [3] The percentage rate of social worker turnover in North Yorkshire is lower than the national and regional average at 14.5% in 2022. However, this percentage has steadily increased over the last six years from 8.2% in 2017 (See Figure 1). 8 OFFICIAL - SENSITIVE Figure 1: Comparison of the Percentage Rate of Social Worker Turnover in the Children’s Services Workforce in North Yorkshire to the Nearest Statistical Neighbours, Regionally and Nationally [3] A longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers conducted by the Department for Education in 2023 examined the reasons workers consider leaving local authority social care. Almost a third of those considering leaving cited the amount of paperwork as one of the reasons and this percentage rose in both frontline practitioners (33%) and newly qualified social workers (44%) [4]. Similarly, of those workers who agreed that they felt stressed by their work, 56% of them identified too much paperwork as being one of the issues contributing to their stress [4]. On average, wo