Actors aid government campaign to recruit more social workers

A number of big-name actors – including the Oscar-nominated Samantha Morton – have lent their support to a government campaign to recruit more than 5,000 new social workers.

Morton praised the staff who worked with her as a child when she was in care in Nottingham. "I had some wonderful social workers who supported me and helped me achieve my goals in life," she said.

A television advertising campaign will feature Sadie Frost, Emilia Fox, who has appeared in the Silent Witness series, Skins star Nicholas Holt, DJ Goldie, former EastEnders actress Michelle Ryan and Joanna Page, who plays the lead role in Gavin and Stacey. Each will play a child or adult in need of support, in the hope of drawing former social workers back to the profession following the outrage over the death of Baby P, which is said to have discouraged some from choosing social work as a career.