Children and vulnerable adults at risk are having their cases handled by social workers who have barely finished training, according to a new study.

The research from Glasgow Caledonian University found that some councils were handing troubling and complex child and adult protection cases to newly-qualified social workers (NQSWs)

Interviewees described their struggles to cope as new workers with 'horrific' situations affecting children who had been taken into care, without support and without any prior experience to fall back on.

The study, carried out by GCU's school of Social Work, concluded: "Some NQSWs also find themselves engaging in work that might be beyond their ability (such as complex child protection and adult protection cases."

Although the workloads of new social workers are menat to be 'protected' so that the families with the biggest needs are dealt with by more experienced workers, that is often not the case, the report said. Meanwhile training on the job was more likely to involve shadowing other workers than any

development of specialist skills.

Scott Grant, one of the co-authors of the report, said: "A concerning proportion of NQSWs are currently involved in work (including child and adult protection) that should only be allocated to experienced social workers."

He said social work training appeared to be doing a good job of preparing social workers for the challenges of the job, but many received little support in their first year, and many were not protected from difficult cases, due to high levels of referrals or staff shortages. "local authorities are failing them by expecting them to function as experienced practitioners," he added.

Hundreds of new social workers were surveyed, and a sample were interviewed by the GCU team. One decribed having a lack of support for "fundamental events" such as having to remove a child from a family home in a child protection crisis. "There was no support whatsoever for two weeks I was left to continuously manage what was a very horrific situation for the children involved," the new social worker said. "I was trying to support them... it took two weeks for somebody to sit down and say how have you been finding this".

Another interviewee said they had not been provided with emotional support from their employer. "They are very good at providing practical support ... but not necessarily to ensure you are getting that emotional support so that the stress does not overwhelm you."

Overall the findings were positive about the pre-qualification training of social workers in Scotland, in contrast to a report south of the border last year from Sir Martin Narey which suggesting that newly qualified social workers in England and Wales are inadequately prepared for the challenge of childcare social work.

A spokeswoman for GCU said: "Nearly 80% of participants reported that education providers had provided good or adequate preparation for the realities of practice."

There have been suggestions that new social workers should have a probationary year to get used to the job, in the same way as teachers and other professionals.

Harry Stevenson, President of Social Work Scotland: "The standard of social work education in Scotland is very high and we are proud of our workforce who do a demanding job delivering crucial support to individuals every day.

"We acknowledge that as there is an increased demand and a higher expectation of our services, more pressure is put upon all of our staff. We are considering, along with other organisations how best to ensure that all newly qualified staff are introduced gradually to their responsibilities and have both protected time for reflection and training and also protected workloads to allow them time to learn and gain the experience they need to support those individuals who depend on social work services.

"There are many excellent examples of this practice across the country, but we need to help organisations to keep delivering this level of support during times when demand, staffing and capacity levels vary."