Children's social work workforce
Annual statistics on child and family social workers, including agency social workers, employed in local authorities in England.
Next release
All releases in this series- Release type
- Produced by
- Department for Education
- Published
Background information
Two local authorities, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, were unable to provide data following a cyberattack in November 2025, which had a significant impact on their information management systems. See ‘About this release’ for more detail.
Headline facts and figures
About this release
This annual release contains statistics on child and family social workers, including agency social workers, employed in local authorities in England. Each reporting year covers the period 1 October to 30 September.
Child and family social workers are social workers registered with Social Work England (SWE) (opens in new tab) working in a local authority in a children’s services department or, if working in an authority where the services are joined up, a social worker that works primarily on children and families work.
Figures are shown on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis. The timeseries in this release feature data from 2017 onwards, which is when information on individual social workers was first collected by the Department for Education (DfE). Comparisons with earlier years should be made with a degree of caution as any changes, at least in part, may be attributable to improvements in data quality. Refer to the ‘Background and coverage’ section of the methodology page for more information.
For the first time, these statistics include figures on full-time social worker base salary and eligibility for allowances and additional payments as official statistics in development (see ‘Base salary, allowances and additional payments’ section for further information).
151 out of the 153 local authorities in England provided a return for the 2025 children’s social work workforce census (opens in new tab). Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster were unable to provide data following a cyberattack in November 2025, which had a significant impact on their information management systems. Therefore, in data sets 1 to 4, figures for these local authorities are not available (indicated by ‘x’), and for data at national and regional level, figures from the previous year were used as best estimates for these local authorities to calculate totals for England, London, and Inner London. Figures for Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have been omitted from data sets 5 and 6 (relating to attrition and base salary) and are stated as ‘Not known’ in data set 7 (relating to allowances and additional payments).
Caseload
A case is defined as any person allocated to a named social worker, where the work involves child and family social work. Cases may be held by social workers regardless of their role in the organisation and not by just those specifically in a ‘case holder’ role.
Average caseload at 30 September is calculated as the total number of cases held by FTE child and family social workers, including agency workers, in post divided by the number of FTE child and family social workers, including agency workers, in post that held one or more cases.
The number of cases held doesn’t account for the complexity of the cases held and this should be considered when interpreting the caseload figures.
There were 321,700 cases held by 21,100 social workers and agency workers at 30 September 2025, equivalent to an average caseload of 15.2.
Average caseload has mostly been falling each year since the series peak of 17.7 in 2017; the latest average is the lowest in the series and is down from 15.4 in 2024.
In 2025, whilst the number of cases rose since 2024 (up 0.4%), the number of workers holding cases rose by a greater percentage (up 1.5%) and this resulted in average caseload falling. Similarly, since 2017, although the number of cases held increased (up 1.6%) average caseload decreased due to a greater percentage increase in workers holding cases (up 18%).
Following the launch of the Families First Partnership programme (opens in new tab) in March 2025, as reported by some local authorities during data collection, some alternatively qualified Family Help Lead Practitioners took on some cases related to child and family social work previously allocated to qualified social workers. This limited the rise in cases held for child and family social workers in 2025.
Vacancies
Vacancies are defined as any FTE (child and family social worker) vacancy as at 30 September within a local authority’s organisational structure, including vacancies that are not being actively recruited for, and those covered by agency workers.
The vacancy rate, as at 30 September, is calculated as FTE vacancies divided by the sum of FTE vacancies and FTE social workers.
The vacancy agency cover rate, as at 30 September, is calculated as FTE agency workers in post covering vacancies, divided by FTE vacancies.
There were 6,000 social worker vacancies at 30 September 2025, falling for the third consecutive year from the series peak of 7,900 vacancies in 2022. The latest figure is down 17% or 1,200 vacancies from a year earlier; this equates to the largest annual fall in the series (both in numeric and percentage terms).
The corresponding vacancy rate also decreased for the third consecutive year from the series peak of 20% in 2022 to 14% in 2025 and is now the lowest rate in the series.
Around 3 in every 4 or 74% of vacancies were covered by agency workers in 2025, down from the series peak of 76% in the previous year.
Sickness absence
The sickness absence rate is calculated as the number of days child and family social workers missed due to sickness absence during the year to 30 September (of those in post at 30 September), divided by the number of FTE child and family social workers in post at 30 September multiplied by 253 days (the number of working days in a non-leap year, taking account of bank holidays). The rate for a leap year is based on 254 working days. Agency social workers are not included in the calculation of the sickness absence rate.
The sickness absence rate for social workers in post at 30 September 2025 was 3.5%, up slightly from 3.4% in 2024; the latest figure matches the series peak from 2022.
The rate in 2025 is higher than the latest 2024 (calendar year) figure of 2.0% for England seen in the ONS statistical release Sickness absence in the UK labour market (opens in new tab) (specifically, Table 9 of the 2024 dataset (opens in new tab)). The sickness absence rate in the ONS statistics is based on the Labour Force Survey and is calculated as the percentage of working hours lost because of sickness absence for all people in employment aged 16 and over.
Starters, leavers and attrition
Starters at the local authority (FTE)
Starters are social workers who joined a vacant child and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September.
The social worker starters figures include those joining from:
- the same local authority, but from a non-child and family social work position.
- a child and family social work position in another local authority in England.
- an agency child and family social work position.
The social worker starters figures exclude those:
- moving or being promoted from one child and family social work position to another within the same local authority.
- returning from maternity or sick leave.
- starting and leaving in the same reporting year.
There were 5,800 social worker starters in the year ending 30 September 2025, up 4.0% or 200 starters from 2024.
There were more social worker starters than leavers in 2025, the same trend seen in previous years except for 2022. The net difference in 2025 was 1,600 more starters than leavers, the highest since 2017.
Step-Up to Social Work (opens in new tab) is a graduate training programme delivering a new cohort of qualified social workers in alternate years, and this will likely have contributed to the annual rises in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025 but also the falls in the intervening years.
Achievements in social worker apprenticeships have increased annually since the 2019/20 academic year and this is likely to have resulted in additional starters each year since 2020.
Leavers and turnover at the local authority (FTE)
Leavers are social workers who left a child and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September.
The social worker leavers figures include those:
- staying at the same local authority but moving to a non-child and family social work position, for example moving to adult social care.
- moving to a child and family social work position in a different local authority in England.
- moving to an agency child and family social work position.
- beginning a career break.
- being seconded out of an organisation.
- leaving the profession altogether.
The social worker leavers figures exclude those:
- moving or being promoted from one child and family social work position to another within the same local authority.
- starting maternity or sick leave.
- starting and leaving in the same reporting year.
There were 4,300 social worker leavers in 2025, falling for the third consecutive year from the series peak of 5,400 in 2022, and representing the lowest number since 2017. The latest figure is a decrease of 10% or 500 workers from a year earlier.
Social worker leavers fell across all age groups between 2024 and 2025, except for those aged 60 and over (up 60 leavers).
The turnover rate is calculated as (the number of) FTE child and family social worker leavers in the year to 30 September divided by FTE child and family social workers in post at 30 September. The turnover rate is a measure of churn in the workforce (although it doesn’t capture the movement of social workers to different child and family social work positions within the same local authority).
The associated turnover rate was 12% in 2025, falling for the third consecutive year from the series peak of 17% in 2022 and representing the lowest rate in the series.
Attrition
Statistics in development
Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing development (previously called experimental statistics). Data on attrition, at national level only and with no further breakdowns, is contained in this statistics release for the third time.
Figures on attrition can be accessed in data set 5 of the table tool. Further information can be found on the methodology page.
We welcome user feedback on these figures (see ‘Contact Us’ section below). The continued inclusion and format of these figures will be reviewed prior to the 2026 statistics release.
Attrition and movers definitions
Child and family social worker leavers can be classed as belonging to one of three groups based on their status at 30 September. Specifically, those:
- moving to a child and family social work position in a different local authority in England;
- leaving the workforce to agency child and family social work (either at the same or a different local authority in England);
- leaving the workforce entirely (i.e. are no longer a child and family social worker or agency child and family social worker within any local authority in England).
The term ‘attrition’ applies to both the second and third groups. The second group is referred to as ‘agency attrition’, and the third group is referred to as ‘full attrition’.
As the leavers figures within this release include the first group, the purpose of the attrition figures is to specifically identify those leaving the local authority employed child and family social work workforce.
The attrition rate (either agency or full) is calculated as the number of FTE child and family social workers leaving due to attrition during the year ending 30 September divided by the number of FTE child and family social workers in post at 30 September.
The movers rate is calculated as the number of FTE child and family social workers moving to a child and family social work position in a different local authority divided by the number of FTE child and family social workers in post at 30 September.
Unlike the leavers and turnover figures in the preceding sub-section which include estimates for Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster (see introduction for further information), estimates for these local authorities are not included in the attrition analysis.
4,200 child and family social worker leavers were included in the attrition analysis in the year to 30 September 2025. These leavers had an associated turnover rate of 12% (the same turnover rate as cited in the preceding sub-section). Of these:
- 2,700 leavers (64% of leavers) were due to full attrition from the workforce, equivalent to a full attrition rate of 7.6%.
- 300 leavers (6.6% of leavers) were due to agency attrition, equivalent to an agency attrition rate of 0.8%.
- 1,200 leavers (29% of leavers) were child and family social workers moving positions between local authorities, equivalent to a movers rate of 3.4%.
Similar to the total number of leavers mentioned in the previous sub-section, in 2025, all the attrition measures fell for the third consecutive year from the series peaks in 2022 (series started in 2017); this suggests that social worker retention has continued to improve in 2025.
The total attrition rate, the agency attrition number and rate, and the movers rate all represented the lowest figures in the series.
As covered in more detail in the section on agency child and family social workers in post, new statutory guidance for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers and the Department’s engagement with local authorities on this guidance is likely to have contributed to the annual fall in 2025 for the agency attrition number and rate.
Base salary, allowances and additional payments
Statistics in development
Official statistics in development (opens in new tab) are official statistics that are undergoing development (previously called experimental statistics). The following statistics should be treated with caution as they were collected and included in this 2025 release for the first time:
- Base salary information, where recorded, for full-time child and family social workers in post at 30 September 2025 (excluding agency workers), at national and regional level. This includes breakdowns by role, sex, ethnicity, age and time in service. The Department for Education assessed data quality to be insufficient to publish statistics on an FTE basis and for part-time workers; it will continue to work with local authorities to improve recording practices, with a view to potentially publishing this information in future years.
- Information on the eligibility of child and family social workers in post (excluding agency workers) for eight types of local authority allowances and additional payments as at 30 September 2025, at national and regional level.
Figures on base salary can be accessed in data set 6 and figures on local authority allowances and additional payments can be found in data set 7 of the table tool. Further information can be found on the methodology page.
We welcome user feedback on these figures (see ‘Contact Us’ section below). The continued inclusion and format of these figures will be reviewed prior to the 2026 statistics release.
Based on information from 150 local authorities (98%) and 32,300 full-time social workers with recorded base salary information (99.9% of all full-time social workers), the median base salary of full-time child and family social workers in post at 30 September 2025 was £47,200. Male social workers had higher base salaries than female social workers for all roles; overall, there was a pay differential of £2,000.
As to be expected, median base salary rises with increasing seniority of social worker roles, ranging from £41,800 for case holders to £84,400 for senior managers.
149 local authority returns, covering 151 local authorities, submitted eligibility information on local authority allowances and additional payments; two pairs of local authorities submit joint returns and are included as one local authority each in this section. The cost of Disclosure and Barring Service checks was the most common allowance/payment for social workers in post, with 125 local authorities (84%) indicating that at least some social workers were eligible for this payment. Conversely, performance rewards and regional weighting were the least common allowances/payments, with 12 local authorities (8%) indicating that at least some social workers were eligible; however, the latter may be explained by regional weighting already being accounted for within base salary in some instances e.g. in London.
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Children's social work workforce statistics and data:
Children’s Services Statistics Team
Email: csww.stats@education.gov.ukContact name: Andy Brook
Press office
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
Public enquiries
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
Opening times
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)