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Reporting year 2021
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 2021.
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.
Northamptonshire local authority was replaced with two new unitary authorities, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire, in April 2021. Data for both unitary authorities was submitted by North Northamptonshire in the 2021 census and is reported against North Northamptonshire in this statistics publication. North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire should be able to make separate census returns in 2022.
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.
Caseloads, absence, vacancies, turnover and agency workers
Filename
csww_fte_and_headcount_rates_2017_to_2021.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2017 to 2021
Content
Figures on social workers (FTE and headcount), leavers and turnover (FTE and headcount), absence (FTE), agency workers (FTE and headcount), vacancies (FTE) and caseload (FTE).
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
absence_rate_fte_%
Sickness absence rate throughout year (FTE)
agency_cover_fte
Number of agency workers at 30 September covering vacancies (FTE)
agency_cover_rate_fte_%
Agency cover rate (FTE)
agency_fte
Number of agency workers at 30 September (FTE)
agency_headcount
Number of agency workers at 30 September (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 September (FTE)
social_worker_headcount
Number of children and family social workers at 30 September (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 September (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
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.
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.
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 and those continuing as children’s social workers but moving to a different local authority. Leavers also include social workers who have begun a career break, those seconded out of an organisation or those leaving the profession altogether. They do not include social workers who have started maternity or sick leave, or moved from one children’s social work position to another children’s social work position within a local authority.
The rate of agency workers covering vacancies at 30 September is calculated as the number of FTE agency workers divided by the number of FTE vacancies at 30 September. Where a local authority has reported more than one agency worker covering the same vacancy, this rate may exceed 100%.
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.
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 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 rate for a leap year is based on 254 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.
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).
Characteristics of children and family social workers in post at 30 September by FTE and headcount. Data is provided for overall totals, age, gender, ethnicity (headcount only), time in service and organisation role.
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 September
percentage
% of children and family social workers at 30 September
Footnotes
Age at 30 September of the reporting year.
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.
Time in service for social workers in post at 30 September is calculated as the time in years from when the worker started in a children and family social worker role at the local authority to 30 September of the reporting year.
From 2021 onwards children and family social workers whose ethnicity was recorded as Chinese have been included in the ‘Asian’ ethnic group, whereas previously they were included in the ‘other ethnic group'. As a result of this change, 2021 data for these two ethnic groups is not directly comparable with earlier years.
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).
Characteristics of children and family social workers starting and leaving a post at a local authority during the year ending 30 September by FTE and headcount. Data is provided for overall totals, age, gender and time in service (leavers only).
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_percentage
% 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_percentage
% of children and family social workers starting during year
Footnotes
Age at 30 September of the reporting year.
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.
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 and those continuing as children’s social workers but moving to a different local authority. Leavers also include social workers who have begun a career break, those seconded out of an organisation or those leaving the profession altogether. They do not include social workers who have started maternity or sick leave, or moved from one children’s social work position to another children’s social work position within a local authority.
Time in service for leavers is calculated as the time in years from when the worker started in a children and family social worker role at the local authority to the date they left a children and family social worker role at the local authority.
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).
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. A move or promotion from one child and family social work position to another within the same local authority is not counted as a starter. Similarly, social workers returning from maternity or sick leave are not counted as starters.
Children and family social worker role by ethnicity.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
asian
Number of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Asian (Headcount)
asian_%
Percentage of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Asian (Headcount)
black
Number of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Black (Headcount)
black_%
Percentage of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Black (Headcount)
known_ethnicity_headcount
Number of children and family social workers with known ethnicity (Headcount)
mixed
Number of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Mixed (Headcount)
mixed_%
Percentage of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was Mixed (Headcount)
OrgRole
Organisation role - Filter by organisation role
other
Number of children and family social workers with other ethnicity (Headcount)
other_%
Percentage of children and family social workers with other ethnicity (Headcount)
white
Number of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was White (Headcount)
white_%
Percentage of children and family social workers whose ethnicity was White (Headcount)
Footnotes
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).