Social worker reasons
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Reason for each social worker change during the year and previous 2 years, including the change to the social worker already assigned to a child at the beginning of the year or previous 2 years (1 April) if relevant.
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Data set details
- Theme
- Children's social care
- Publication
- Stability measures for children looked after in England
- Release
- Reporting year 2025
- Release type
- Number of rows
- 44
- Geographic levels
- National
- Indicators
- Number
- Percentage
- Filters
- CLA population
- Reason for new social worker
- Time period
- 2024 to 2025
Data set preview
| time_period | time_identifier | geographic_level | country_code | country_name | cla_group | sw_episode_reason | sw_episode_count | sw_episode_percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | CLA 2 years on 31 March | Absence cover or return from absence | 8790 | 5 |
| 2025 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | CLA 2 years on 31 March | Child requested change from previous social worker | 780 | k |
| 2025 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | CLA 2 years on 31 March | First contact or re-referral | 7930 | 4 |
| 2025 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | CLA 2 years on 31 March | Managing caseloads | 30980 | 17 |
| 2025 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | CLA 2 years on 31 March | New social worker assigned following child transfer due to standard process | 34560 | 19 |
Variables in this data set
| Variable name | Variable description |
|---|---|
| cla_group | CLA population |
| sw_episode_count | Number |
| sw_episode_percent | Percentage |
| sw_episode_reason | Reason for new social worker |
Footnotes
- Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number. Figures in some tables may be suppressed, denoted by a 'c', percentages <0.5% are denoted by a 'k' . Historical data may differ from older publications which is mainly due to amendments made by local authorities after the previous publication. However, users looking for a longer time series may wish to check for the equivalent table in earlier releases of this publication. Figures exclude reasons for new social workers for children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
- Figures for 2024 exclude Barnet who did not complete a social worker data return, and a small number of other children from other LAs who were missing from the data collection, or missing social worker episodes for the correct period.
- In the 2025 data collection, local authorities provided updated social worker episodes between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 for children who were CLA on both 31 March 2024 and 2025. These updated social worker episodes have been used to produce the 2024 one-year measure and the 2025 two-year measure. A small number of LAs did not provide all their social worker episodes for these children in the 2025 data collection, so their missing data has instead been taken from what they provided in the 2024 data collection.
- A number of local authorities reported issues with providing the reason a child was assigned a new social worker. Where local authorities were unable to provide the reason a child was assigned a new social worker, these are generally included within the 'Other reason' category. Further details can be found in the methodology document.
- Includes reason for each social worker change during the year and previous 2 years, including the change to the social worker already assigned to a child at the beginning of the year or previous 2 years (1 April) if relevant.
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Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Social worker reasons statistics and data:
Children Looked After data team
Email: cla.stats@education.gov.ukContact name: Karen Attew