On Tuesday, Cumbria County Council is considering a plan to offer higher pay to attract more staff to plug a shortage in the department.

The council says there are currently 97 unfilled posts out of 475 in its Children's Services Department.

The authority will discuss measures including higher salaries to attract staff and says it will also look at how to retain staff.

Suggestions include starting new staff on higher rates, and paying a bonus if workers guarantee to stay a second year.

'High stress'

Cabinet spokesman for care and social services John Mallinson said: "We are short of social workers. It is a national shortage.

"This means that our present social workforce are working under heavy caseloads, high stress levels and we are determined to do all we can to alleviate this as much as possible."

He said the measures being discussed, which mainly concentrated on recruitment, were a starting point and it hoped to quickly move on to measures to make sure qualified social workers stay with the council.

The union Unison, welcomed the plans, but said councillors should also make sure they also rewarded long-serving staff.