Children's social work workforce
Annual statistics on child and family social workers, including agency social workers, employed in local authorities in England.
- Published
Background information
This release provides information about children and family social workers and agency social workers employed in local authorities.
The information is based on data collected in an annual census from local authorities in England. The latest collection covers the year from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021.
Children and family social workers are social workers registered with Social Work England (SWE) 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.
This is the second data release in this series impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
A time series of national, regional and local authority breakdowns of the data is available in the ‘Explore Data and Files’ section.
Headline facts and figures
- The number of FTE children and family social workers and agency workers both increased to the highest level in the last five years (comparable figures available from 2017).
- There were 5,000 FTE leavers in 2021, the highest in the series and up by 16% compared to last year.
- This increase in leavers may have contributed to a rise in the number of vacancies, which at 6,500 was also the highest number in the last five years.
- Caseloads remained stable at an average of 16.3 cases per social worker in 2021, but were down from an average of 16.9 in 2019.
- The sickness absence rate increased to 3.1% from 2.9% a year earlier, back to pre-pandemic levels and at the five year average. The sickness absence data in these statistics do not necessarily provide the full picture of capacity shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some staff would have been self-isolating or shielding and unable to carry out face to face work.
Agency workers
Calculation of the FTE agency worker rate
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.
There were nearly 6,000 FTE agency children and family social workers at 30 September 2021, up by 3% from 5,800 in 2020 and the highest number reported in the last five years.
Despite these rises, the agency worker rate was relatively unchanged from last year at 15.5%.
Just over three quarters (76.3%) of agency social workers were covering vacancies, a similar rate to last year. As in previous years, this rate varied considerably between local authorities. Some local authorities reported that none of their agency workers were covering vacancies, while others reported all of their agency workers were covering vacancies.
In situations where agency workers are not covering vacancies they may be employed by a local authority to manage seasonal peaks, or deal with acute backlogs, as an alternative to employing social workers on a permanent basis.
Caseload
Cases
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 just those specifically in a ‘case holder’ role.
Average caseload calculation
The caseload is calculated as the total number of cases held by FTE social workers (including agency workers) in post at the 30 September divided by the number of FTE social workers (including agency workers) at 30 September that hold one or more cases.
There were 335,500 cases held by 20,500 FTE children and family social workers and agency workers at 30 September 2021. This is equivalent to an average caseload of 16.3 and is unchanged from last year, but down from 16.9 in 2019.
The number of cases held is typically smaller than the number of children in need at 31 March. This may be explained by a number of factors, including different count dates for the data collections and variance in the interpretation of the department’s guidance.
The collection of individual level data for the past five years enables us to calculate an average caseload measure. However, it should be noted that over this period local authorities have reported some difficulties in linking cases to the social worker holding those cases.
The above issues should be taken into consideration when interpreting caseload figures.
Vacancies
Vacancies
For the purpose of this collection vacancies are defined as any FTE vacancy within a local authority’s organisational structure, including vacancies that are not being actively recruited for, and those covered by agency workers.
Calculation of the vacancy rate
The 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.
There were 6,500 FTE children and family social worker vacancies at 30 September 2021, an increase of 7% from 6,100 at the same point in 2020 and the highest number in the last five years. The corresponding vacancy rate increased to 16.7%, from 16.1% in 2020 and was the highest rate since 2017.
Overall, 69.9% of vacancies were covered by agency workers in 2021, down from 74.1% last year.
Sickness absence
Calculation of the sickness absence rate
The sickness 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 253 days (the number of working days in a non-leap year, taking account of bank holidays).
The sickness absence rate for children and family social workers in the year ending 30 September 2021 was 3.1%, up from 2.9% in 2020, but stable compared with 2019.
The sickness absence data in these statistics do not necessarily provide the full picture of capacity shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some staff would have been self-isolating or shielding and unable to carry out face to face work.
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
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