Reporting year 2021

Children's social work workforce: attrition, caseload, and agency workforce

Data guidance

Published 23 May 2022

Description

This document covers analysis and data from the attrition, caseload, and agency workforce publication 2021. 

This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License and is intended to meet at least three stars for Open Data.

The methodology should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, coverage and quality, as well as explaining the methods used to produce the data

Coverage

The Children’s social work workforce census covers all local authorities in England and all children and family social workers employed by those local authorities.

Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames submit a joint return each year, and the numbers are reported against Kingston upon Thames. This arrangement has no impact on regional and national totals.

Northamptonshire local authority was replaced with two new unitary authorities, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire, in April 2021. Data for both unitary authorities is reported against North Northamptonshire in this publication. 

File formats and conventions

Data and metadata are provided in csv format

Where any number is shown as zero (0), the original figure submitted was zero.
x  indicates that data is not available. This may be because a local authority was unable to return a particular data item in the census, or data was not available because of concerns regarding quality.
z indicates data is not applicable.

Rounding

Figures for full-time equivalents (FTEs), rates and percentages have been rounded to one decimal place.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Additional attrition estimates

• Filename: further_attrition_estimates_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Additional attrition estimates are calculated with sub-groups of the main data, estimating attrition with leavers from the first six months of the collection period (October ‘20 and March ’21), and the leavers from October '20 only.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
annual_attrition_fte_estimate	Annual attrition FTE estimate
annual_attrition_rate	Annual attrition rate
annual_leavers_fte_estimate	Annual leavers FTE estimate
annual_turnover_rate	Annual turnover rate
attrition_as_proportion_of_leavers	Attrition as a proportion of leavers
attrition_fte	Attrition FTE
leavers_fte	Leavers FTE
timeframe	Timeframe

Footnotes

1. There were 32,502 FTE children's social workers in post at 30 September 2021, and 31,850 FTE at 30 September 2020.
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Agency rates

• Filename: la_agency_rates_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: Local authority; National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Agency rate data, at local authority and National level.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
agency_fte	Agency-employed Social Worker FTE
agency_rate	Agency Rate
agency_rate_group	Agency Rate Group
la_sw_fte	LA-employed Social Worker FTE

Footnotes

1. The FTE agency worker rate is calculated as the number of FTE agency staff working as social workers at 30 September divided by the sum of the number of FTE agency staff working as social workers at 30 September and the number of FTE social workers.
2. Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames submit a joint return each year, and the numbers are reported against Kingston upon Thames. This arrangement has no impact on regional and national totals.
3. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
4. Northamptonshire local authority was replaced with two new unitary authorities, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire, in April 2021. Data for both unitary authorities combined was submitted by North Northamptonshire in the 2021 census and is reported against North Northamptonshire in this statistics publication.
5. Rates are based on the number of LA social workers in post at 30 September.

Attrition by age

• Filename: attrition_by_age_2020_to_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 to 2021
• Content:

  Data on the breakdown of attrition based on the age of the social worker on 30 September 2021.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
age_group	Age group
attrition_into_agency_fte	Attrition into agency FTE
attrition_into_agency_proportion	Attrition rate into agency
full_attrition_out_of_csc_fte	Full attrition FTE out of CSC
full_attrition_out_of_csc_proportion	Full attrition rate out of CSC
la_social_worker_fte	LA social workers
leaver_fte	Leaver FTE
total_attrition_fte	Total attrition FTE
total_attrition_proportion	Total attrition rate
turnover_rate	Turnover rate

Footnotes

1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
2. Rates are based on the number of LA social workers in post at 30 September.

Attrition by time in LA

• Filename: attrition_by_time_in_la_2020_to_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 to 2021
• Content:

  Data on the breakdown of attrition by time in local authority (LA) are presented.

  Time in local authority is a measure for how long a social worker has worked in their current local authority. Where time in LA is provided for leaver and attrition groups, this is how long the social worker had worked in their LA before leaving the local authority. time in local authority is not a measure of the duration an individual has been registered as a social worker.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
full_attrition_fte	Full Attrition FTE
full_attrition_rate	Full Attrition Proportion
la_workforce_fte	LA Workforce FTE
la_workforce_proportion	LA Workforce Proportion
leaver_fte	Leaver FTE
leaver_proportion	Leaver Proportion
moved_into_agency_fte	Moved into Agency FTE
moved_into_agency_rate	Moved into Agency Proportion
proportion_of_total_attrition	Total Attrition Proportion
total_attrition_fte30	Total Attrition FTE
total_attrition_relative_to_la_workforce	Total Attrition Rate relative to LA Workforce
years_in_la	Years in LA

Footnotes

1. Time in local authority (LA) calculations are not relative to the LA-employed workforce. The proportions of time in LA groups are of the group they are in, with the full column summing to 100%.
2. For social workers in post at 30 September, time in local authority is calculated as the time in years from when the worker started in a children's social worker role at the local authority to 30 September of the reporting year. Therefore time in local authority does not necessarily represent the amount of time an individual has been registered as a social worker, or how long they have spent in the social work profession.
3. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
4. For social workers belonging to one of the attrition groups, time in local authority is calculated as the time in years from when the worker started in a children's social worker role at the local authority, to the date they left a children's social worker role at the local authority. Therefore time in local authority does not necessarily represent the amount of time an individual has been registered as a social worker, or how long they have spent in the social work profession.

Attrition overall

• Filename: attrition_overall_2020_to_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2020 to 2021
• Content:

  Breakdowns of the various levels of attrition, with comparisons to the LA-employed social work workforce on 30 September 2021.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
col_name	Variable Name
proportion_of_attrition	Proportion of Attrition
proportion_of_la_workforce	Proportion of LA Workforce
proportion_of_leavers	Proportion of Leavers
total_fte	Total FTE

Footnotes

1. There were 32,502 FTE children's social workers in post at 30 September 2021, and 31,850 FTE at 30 September 2020.
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Caseload breakdown

• Filename: caseload_individual_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Breakdown and distribution of how many cases were held by social workers on 30 September 2021.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
cumulative_fte	Cumulative FTE
cumulative_proportion	Cumulative FTE Proportion
rounded_cases	Cases Held
total_fte	Total FTE

Footnotes

1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
2. Social workers who do not hold cases (0 cases per FTE) are excluded – 17,930 FTE social workers.
3. Social workers who held cases, but had 0 FTE recorded are excluded – 26 social worker with 0 FTE were holding 309 cases.
4. Social workers holding more than 50 cases per FTE are excluded – 91.0 FTE social workers were holding 4,878 cases.

Caseload by organisation role

• Filename: caseload_by_organisation_role_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Breakdown of how many cases were held by social workers at each different organisation role type, provided for agency-employed social workers and LA-employed social workers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
average_caseload	Mean cases held
orgrole	Organisation role
proportion_holding_cases	Proportion holding cases
total_cases	Total cases
total_fte_holders_of_cases	Total FTE holding cases
total_fte_incl_non_case_holders	Total FTE (including non-case holders)
worker_type	Worker type - Agency-employed Worker or LA-employed Worker

Footnotes

1. Some local authorities may have difficulty in recording role type, leading to some social workers in the "qualified without cases" role type recorded as holding cases. Please see data quality in the methodology for more details.
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Caseload groups

• Filename: caseload_groups_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Grouped data on the number of cases held by social workers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
cases_held_per_fte	Number of Cases Held (Group)
proportion	Proportion of all Case Holders
total_fte	Total FTE

Footnotes

1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.
2. Social workers who do not hold cases (0 cases per FTE) are excluded – 17,930 FTE social workers.
3. Social workers who held cases, but had 0 FTE recorded are excluded – 26 social worker with 0 FTE were holding 309 cases.
4. Social workers holding more than 50 cases per FTE are excluded – 91.0 FTE social workers were holding 4,878 cases.

Organisation role types

• Filename: organisation_role_types_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Data on the proportions and FTE of the organisation role types of agency-employed children's social workers.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
agencyworker	Worker Type
orgrole	Organisation Role
rate_fte	Proportion of FTE (%)
rate_of_known_fte	Proportion of known FTE (%)
sum_fte	Sum of FTE

Footnotes

1. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Time between roles - all movers

• Filename: movers_time_between_roles_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Breakdown of the number of days between social workers leaving one role and starting their next role, for Social Workers who left their role in the year ending 30 September 2021.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
cumulative_fte_count	Cumulative FTE
cumulative_percentage_days	Cumulative proportion of total FTE
days	Days between roles
fte	FTE

Footnotes

1. There were 250 FTE social workers whose new role was recorded as starting before they left their original role. These social workers have been excluded from the figures.
2. Time between roles is calculated as the time in days (including weekends and bank holidays) between a social worker leaving a role and starting a new role. For example, if a leaver ended a role on a Friday and started new role on a Monday, the time between roles is calculated as 3 days. If a leaver started their new role on the same day that they left their previous role, time between roles calculated as zero days.
3. There were 50 FTE social workers who left their role on 30 September 2021. These workers have been excluded from the figures, as in each case their time between roles would be calculated as 0 days.
4. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Time between roles - October movers

• Filename: october_20_time_between_roles_2021.csv
• Geographic levels: National
• Time period: 2021
• Content:

  Breakdown of the number of days between social workers leaving one role and starting their next role, for social workers who left their role in October 2020.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
cum_percentage_days	Cumulative proportion of total FTE
cumulative_fte	Cumulative FTE
days	Days between roles
fte_sum	FTE

Footnotes

1. Time between roles is calculated as the time in days (including weekends and bank holidays) between a social worker leaving a role and starting a new role. For example, if a leaver ended a role on a Friday and started new role on a Monday, the time between roles is calculated as 3 days. If a leaver started their new role on the same day that they left their previous role, time between roles calculated as zero days.
2. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.