With employee numbers running beyond 40,000 and a budget of more than a billion pounds, Essex County Council was keen to ensure it had up-to-date workforce planning in place, which it achieved through a dedicated oracle system held in departmental databases. It became clear in the early 2000s that the perennial problem of shortages of qualified social workers was deteriorating with vacancies at 25%, more than twice the national average. Without a clear action plan, this problem could not be resolved. Without a substantial increase in salaries and benefits (impossible in most cash-starved local authorities) it was unlikely to be able to make up the shortfall by recruiting from other authorities, so a more drastic solution was investigated to focus on the capacity of existing staff. The council carried out a survey of the time spent on ‘skilled’ social work activity, and how much on ancillary work, particularly administration, to identify how possible it was to switch the administrative tasks to support staff, where recruitment was possible. The survey also gave an opportunity for social work staff to buy into the proposal by suggesting how the service and their role could improve through changes in the way they carried out their work. A workshop took place before the survey was issued to explain the exact purpose of the survey and to dispel any fears about ‘snooping’. Another workshop took place when the returns and analysis was completed to discuss the way forward. Many good ideas emerged and a number were implemented to release time for social workers to better use their skills and professional expertise, both in handling cases and in transferring skills to other staff, especially those in residential homes.