Reporting year 2023

Children's social work workforce

Annual statistics on child and family social workers, including agency social workers, employed in local authorities in England.

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Background information

This annual release contains statistics on children 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.

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. 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). Refer to the ‘Background and coverage’ section of the methodology page for more information.

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Headline facts and figures

Social workers in post

Number of social workers

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 (the more senior role where applicable). 

There were 33,100 full-time equivalent (FTE) children and family social workers (not including agency workers) in post at 30 September 2023, an increase of 4.7% or 1,500 workers from a year earlier. The corresponding headcount also rose, by 4.5% or 1,500 workers to 35,200.

The latest annual increases (both numeric and percentage) were the largest since the series started in 2017 for both FTE and headcount and both measures were now also at their highest level in the series.

In 2023, the number of social worker starters (both FTE and headcount) rose to its highest point in the series (see section ‘Starters, leavers and attrition’) and this has contributed to the number of social workers also being the highest in the series. The increase in social worker starters is likely to have been partly driven by an intake of Step-Up to Social Work graduates (opens in new tab) (with the training programme delivering a new cohort of qualified social workers in alternate years) and also an intake of graduates from social worker apprenticeships (opens in new tab).

With the exception of 2021 to 2022, FTE and headcount increased each year.

Age of social workers (FTE)

In 2023, children and family social workers aged 30 to 39 continued to be the largest grouping, accounting for around 3 in 10 (31%) workers.

The number of social workers rose across all age groups between 2022 and 2023. The biggest numeric rise was seen in the group aged 40 to 49 (500 workers), and the biggest percentage rise was in those aged 60 and over (9.4%).

Gender of social workers (FTE)

In 2023, nearly 9 in 10, or 87%, of children and family social workers were female. This is higher than the 76% seen in the teaching profession (in state-funded schools) and the 46% seen in professional occupations (including managers, directors and senior officials). The proportion of social workers who were female has increased each year in the series.

The figure on gender:

Ethnicity (headcount)

Ethnicity was known for 81% of children and family social workers in 2023. Of those, one in four (24.6%) were from ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities) and this has increased each year from 20.0% in 2017, mainly due to an increase in workers from Black ethnic groups.

The 25% of social workers from ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities) is greater than the 10% seen in the teaching profession (in state-funded schools) and the 18% seen in professional occupations (including managers, directors, and senior officials). However, it is lower than the 31% seen in the children in need population.

The figure on ethnicity:

Time in service at local authority (FTE)

Time in service is a measure of the total time in years that a social worker has been employed continuously in any children and family social worker role at their current local authority, rather than only the time they have spent in their current children and family social worker role.

The overall rise of 1,500 children and family social workers between 2022 and 2023 was driven by an increase in workers who had been in service for less than 2 years (up 900 workers) and between 5 and 10 years (up 500 workers).

Social worker role (FTE)

A case holder is a children and family social worker that manages cases, but is not in a senior manager, middle manager, first line manager or senior practitioner role. However, cases can be held by those not in case holder roles.

The number of children and family social workers rose across all roles since 2022, with the exception of senior managers which showed a slight decrease (down 30 workers or 4.1%). The largest numeric rise was seen in case holder roles (up 600 workers) but the largest percentage rise was seen in those workers who were qualified without cases (up 7.8%).

In 2023, 46.7% of social workers were reported as being in a case holder role, down from 50.8% in 2017.

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Agency social workers in post

Agency workers are children and family social workers not directly paid by the local authority. These may be social workers who are paid by an agency rather than the local authority or who are self-employed.

The agency worker rate, as at 30 September, is calculated as (the number of) FTE agency (children and family) social workers divided by the sum of FTE agency social workers and FTE social workers.

The agency workers covering vacancies rate, as at 30 September, is calculated as (the number of) FTE agency workers covering vacancies divided by FTE agency workers.

There were 7,200 agency social workers in post at 30 September 2023, up by 6.1% (400 workers) from 2022. Agency workers have increased each year since the series started in 2017 and therefore the latest figure is the highest in the series.

The latest annual rise contributed to the agency worker rate increasing slightly to 17.8% in 2023 (from 17.6% in 2022) and this rate is also the highest in the series.

Four out of every five (80.1%) of agency social workers were covering vacancies in 2023, similar to 80.5% in the previous year. The latest figure represents the second highest rate in the series, with 2022 being the series peak.

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.

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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 just those specifically in a ‘case holder’ role.

Average caseload at 30 September is calculated as the total number of cases held by FTE social workers, including agency workers, in post divided by the number of FTE 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 also be taken into consideration when interpreting the caseload figures.

There were 337,100 cases held by 21,100 FTE social workers and agency workers at 30 September 2023, equivalent to an average caseload of 16.0. This was a decrease of 0.6 cases per worker since 2022 and is the lowest average in the series (the highest was in 2017). Although the number of cases increased over this period (by 0.4%), the average caseload decreased due to a greater increase in workers holding cases (by 4.5%).

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Vacancies

Vacancies are defined as any FTE (child and family social worker) vacancy 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 7,700 child and family social worker vacancies at 30 September 2023, a decrease of 2.4% (or 200 vacancies) from a year earlier. Whilst this represents the first occasion that the number of vacancies has decreased since 2018, the latest figure still represents the second highest in the series, with 2022 being the series peak.

The corresponding vacancy rate decreased to 18.9%, from 20.0% in 2022. Again, the latest rate represents the second highest in the series, with 2022 being the series peak.

Overall, 74.4% of vacancies were covered by agency workers in 2023, up from 68.8% a year earlier and now the highest rate in the series.

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Sickness absence

The sickness absence rate is calculated as the number of days missed due to sickness absence during the year to 30 September 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 sickness absence rate for children and family social workers in the year ending 30 September 2023 was 3.2%, down from 3.5% in 2022. The latest figure represents the second highest rate since the series started in 2017, with 2022 being the series peak.

The rate in 2023 is higher than the latest 2022 (calendar year) figure of 2.5% for England seen in the ONS statistical release ‘Sickness absence in the UK labour market (opens in new tab)' (specifically, Table 9 of the 2022 dataset (opens in new tab)). The sickness absence rate in the ONS statistics is calculated as the percentage of working hours lost because of sickness or injury.

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Starters, leavers and attrition

Starters at the local authority

Starters are social workers who joined a vacant children and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September. 

The following are included in the social worker starters figures:

  • those joining from the same local authority, but from a non-children and family social work position.
  • those joining from a children and family social work position in another local authority in England.
  • those joining from an agency children and family social work position.

The following are not included in the social worker starters figures:

  • those moving or being promoted from one children and family social work position to another within the same local authority.
  • those returning from maternity or sick leave.
  • those who started and left in the same reporting year.

There were more children and family social worker starters than leavers in the year ending 30 September 2023, a reversal of the situation seen in 2022, and a return to the trend seen in previous years.

There were 6,000 FTE social worker starters in 2023, up 25% (1,200 starters) from 2022, which was the lowest year since the series started in 2017.

The latest annual rise (both in numeric and percentage terms) was the largest in the series and number of starters in 2023 also represents the highest in the series.

The increase in social worker starters in 2023 is likely to have been partly driven by an intake of Step-Up to Social Work graduates (opens in new tab) (with the training programme delivering a new cohort of qualified social workers in alternate years) and also an intake of graduates from social worker apprenticeships (opens in new tab).

Leavers and turnover at the local authority

Leavers are social workers who left a children and family social worker post at a local authority in the year ending 30 September. 

The following are included in the social worker leavers figures:

  • those who are staying at the same local authority, but are moving to a non-children and family social work position, for example moving to adult social care.
  • those moving to a children and family social work position in a different local authority in England.
  • those moving to an agency children and family social work position.
  • those who have begun a career break.
  • those seconded out of an organisation.
  • those leaving the profession altogether. 

The following are not included in the social worker leavers figures

  • those moving or being promoted from one children and family social work position to another within the same local authority.
  • those who have started maternity or sick leave.
  • those who started and left in the same reporting year. 

The turnover rate is calculated as (the number of) FTE children and family social worker leavers in the year to 30 September divided by FTE children 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 children and family social work positions within the same local authority).

There were 5,300 FTE social worker leavers in 2023, down 3.1% or 200 from a year earlier. The latest figure represents the second highest in the series, with 2022 being the series peak.

The associated turnover rate decreased to 15.9% in 2023 from 17.1% a year earlier. As with leavers, the latest turnover rate represents the second highest in the series, with 2022 being the series peak.

Attrition

Statistics in development

Official statistics in development (opens in new tab) 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 first time. Previously, figures on attrition were published in the 2021 ad-hoc Department for Education statistics release ‘Children's social work workforce: attrition, caseload, and agency workforce’.

Attrition definitions

Within the child and family social worker leavers for each year, social workers are identified as belonging to one of three groups based on their status on 30 September:

  1. those who have moved to a children and family social work position in a different local authority in England;
  2. those who are now working as an agency children and family social worker, either in the same or a different local authority in England;
  3. those who are not identified as a children and family social worker or agency children 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’.

The leavers figures contained within this release include the first group, therefore the purpose of these attrition figures is to provide further context and to help identify those leaving the local authority employed children and family social  work workforce in England, either partially i.e. the second group or entirely i.e. the third group.

The attrition rate (either agency or full) is calculated as the number of FTE children and family social workers leaving due to attrition during the year ending 30 September divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers in post at 30 September.

The movers rate is calculated as the number of FTE children and family social workers moving to a children and family social work position in a different local authority divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers in post at 30 September.

Further information and user feedback

Figures on attrition can be accessed in the attrition data set of the table tool. Further information on their calculation 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 2024 statistics release.

Of the 5,300 child and family social worker leavers in the year to 30 September 2023, with a turnover rate of 15.9% (see ‘Leavers and turnover at the local authority’ sub-section above):

  • 3,100 leavers (58% of leavers) were due to full attrition from the workforce, equivalent to a full attrition rate of 9.3%.
  • 900 leavers (18% of leavers) were due to agency attrition, equivalent to an agency attrition rate of 2.8%.
  • 1,200 leavers (24% of leavers) were children and family social workers moving positions between local authorities, equivalent to a movers rate of 3.8%.

Whilst in 2023 the number of social worker leavers due to full or agency attrition, and the associated full and agency attrition rates, were all down from the series peaks in 2022 (series started in 2017), all the figures were the second highest in the series.

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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.uk
Contact 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)

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