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Reporting year 2020
Children's social work workforce
Data guidance
Published
Description
This document describes the data included in the children’s social work workforce official statistics underlying data files. 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 information in this statistical release is based on data collected in the annual statutory census collection on the children’s social work workforce. The census collects information from all local authorities in England on the children and family social workers and agency workers they employ within their children’s services department. Underlying data is provided for the reporting years 2017 to 2020.
Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames submit a joint return through Achieving for Children and their data is reported together against Kingston upon Thames.
File formats and conventions
Confidentiality
Where necessary we have replaced figures with the letter ‘c’ to preserve confidentiality. Secondary suppression may also be applied to preserve confidentiality.
Where any number is shown as zero (0), the original figure submitted was zero.
: 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.
The symbols used are in accordance with the latest Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance.
Rounding
Figures for full-time equivalents (FTEs), rates and percentages have been rounded to one decimal place.
Headcounts are reported to the nearest whole number.
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.
FTE and headcount characteristics
Filename
csww_fte_and_headcount_characteristics_2020.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2017 to 2020
Content
Age, gender, role, time in service and ethnicity (headcount only) of children and family social workers in post at 30 September. Characteristics are provided on a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
characteristic_type
Characteristic type - Filter by characteristic type
count
Count type - Filter by count
number
Number of children and family social workers at 30 Sept
percent
% of children and family social workers at 30 Sept
Footnotes
Full-time Equivalent (FTE) figures are calculated by aggregating the total number of hours that social workers are contracted to work and dividing by the standard hours for their grade. FTE figures exclude social workers for whom FTE information was missing or not known.
Headcount is a count of all individual children and family social workers, regardless of their working pattern: where a social worker holds more than one post within a local authority, only one post is counted (refer to the methodology section for more information).
Absence, vacancy, turnover and agency worker rates, and caseload of children and family social workers. These measures are reported on a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis where applicable.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
absence_rate_fte_%
Absence rate throughout year (FTE)
agency_cover_fte
Number of agency workers at 30 Sept of which covering vacancies (FTE)
agency_cover_headcount
Number of agency workers at 30 Sept of which covering vacancies (Headcount)
agency_cover_rate_fte_%
Agency cover rate (FTE)
agency_cover_rate_headcount_%
Agency cover rate (Headcount)
agency_fte
Number of agency workers at 30 Sept (FTE)
agency_headcount
Number of agency workers at 30 Sept (Headcount)
agency_worker_rate_fte_%
Agency worker rate (FTE)
agency_worker_rate_headcount_%
Agency worker rate (Headcount)
case_holders_fte
Number of caseholders (FTE)
caseload_fte
Average caseload (per FTE)
cases
Number of cases held
leaver_fte
Number of children and family social workers leaving during year (FTE)
leaver_headcount
Number of children and family social workers leaving during year (Headcount)
social_worker_fte
Number of children and family social workers at 30 Sept (FTE)
social_worker_headcount
Number of children and family social workers at 30 Sept (Headcount)
turnover_rate_fte_%
Turnover rate (FTE)
turnover_rate_headcount_%
Turnover rate (Headcount)
vacancy_agency_cover_rate_fte_%
Vacancy agency cover rate (FTE)
vacancy_fte
Vacancies at 30 Sept (FTE)
vacancy_rate_fte_%
Vacancy rate (FTE)
working_days_lost_fte
Number of days of work missed due to sickness absence during year (FTE)
Footnotes
The 2020 absence rate is calculated as the number of days missed due to sickness absence during the year divided by the number of FTE social workers at 30 September multiplied by 254 days (the number of working days in a leap year, taking account of bank holidays). The rate for non-leap years is based on 253 working days.
The turnover rate is calculated as the number of FTE (or headcount) social workers leaving a social work role in the year divided by the number of FTE (or headcount) social workers in post at the 30 September.
Full-time Equivalent (FTE) figures are calculated by aggregating the total number of hours that social workers are contracted to work and dividing by the standard hours for their grade. FTE figures exclude social workers for whom FTE information was missing or not known.
Headcount is a count of all individual children and family social workers, regardless of their working pattern: where a social worker holds more than one post within a local authority, only one post is counted (refer to the methodology section for more information).
The FTE vacancy rate is calculated as the number of FTE vacancies at 30 September divided by the sum of the number of FTE vacancies at 30 September and the number of FTE social workers at 30 September.
The agency worker rate is calculated as the number of FTE (or headcount) agency staff working as social workers at 30 September divided by the sum of the number of FTE (or headcount) agency staff working as social workers at 30 September and the number of FTE (or headcount) social workers.
Age, gender and time in service (leavers only) of children and family social workers starters and leavers in the year ending 30 September. Characteristics are provided on a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
characteristic_type
Characteristic type - Filter by characteristic type
count
Count type - Filter by count
leavers_percent
% of children and family social workers leaving during year
number_of_leavers
Number of children and family social workers leaving during year
number_of_starters
Number of children and family social workers starting during year
starters_percent
% of children and family social workers starting during year
Footnotes
Starters are social workers who joined a vacant child and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September. This includes social workers who have previously worked in the same local authority, but in a non-child and family role.
Leavers are social workers who left a child and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September. This includes social workers who are staying at a local authority, but moving to a non-child and family role, for example moving to adult social care.
Full-time Equivalent (FTE) figures are calculated by aggregating the total number of hours that social workers are contracted to work and dividing by the standard hours for their grade. FTE figures exclude social workers for whom FTE information was missing or not known.
Headcount is a count of all individual children and family social workers, regardless of their working pattern: where a social worker holds more than one post within a local authority, only one post is counted (refer to the methodology section for more information).