Methodology

Children's social work workforce

Published

Background and coverage

The information in this statistical release is based on data collected by the Department for Education in the annual statutory census collection on the children’s social work workforce (CSWW). The census collects information from local authorities in England on the social workers and agency workers they employ within their children’s services departments.

The guide to submitting data (opens in a new tab) provides information on how local authorities should collect and submit data to complete the CSWW census.

Children and family social workers are social workers registered with Social Work England (SWE) working on children and families social work. A fuller description is given in the definitions section below.

Since 2013, the CSWW census has collected data for each full year ending 30 September. Data was collected at aggregate (local authority) level from 2013 to 2016. From 2017 onwards data has been collected on individual social workers, with the latest collection covering the year from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.

Prior to 2013, the primary source for information on the children and family social work workforce was the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC). This was a voluntary return. The last report on this data published by the department covered the workforce at December 2012 and used data returned by 68 out of the 152 local authorities. There has been a 100% response rate for each of the statutory collections since 2013.

The information in this release is based only on data collected since 2017; the first year data was collected on individual social workers. Data for earlier years is published in the children's social work workforce statistics collection (opens in a new tab).

These statistics have been published as official statistics since 2020, whereas previously they were classified as experimental statistics. More information on the code of practice for official statistics (opens in a new tab) is available from the UK Statistics Authority.

Official statistics in development (opens in a new tab) on attrition, at national level only and with no further breakdowns, are 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’. These figures have been revised slightly in this publication due to a slight change in methodology. In addition, this publication includes attrition figures for more recent years and back dated to the collection covering 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2017.

Users should read this methodology page and the footnotes for the underlying data to understand the practical applications and limitations of the data. In particular, comparisons with earlier years should be made with a degree of caution, as any changes may in part be a result of improvements in data quality. Refer to the ‘Data Quality and Uses’ section for more information on data quality issues.

Reporting arrangements for specific local authorities

Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames submit a joint census return each year through Achieving for Children, a social enterprise company created by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to provide their children’s services. As a result of this arrangement their data cannot be broken down to an individual local authority level and is instead reported together against ‘Kingston upon Thames / Richmond upon Thames’. This arrangement has no impact on the regional and national totals included in this publication.

North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire

In April 2021 Northamptonshire local authority was replaced with two new unitary authorities, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. Since 2021 they have submitted a joint census return and data for both unitary authorities is reported against ‘North Northamptonshire / West Northamptonshire’ in this statistics publication.

Regional adoption agencies

A regional adoption agency (RAA) is a shared adoption service for several local authorities, working with Voluntary Adoption Agencies and other partners to deliver a system wide approach. RAAs were introduced with the aim that a larger service would be more efficient and effective than a fragmented system of smaller services in each local authority. At the time of the 2023 children’s social work workforce census 32 RAAs, covering 149 local authorities, had gone live. Where the RAA is hosted by a local authority and staff have been transferred, the social workers working within the RAA are recorded against the host local authority in the children’s social work workforce data census.

Data collection and cleaning

Data collection

Local authorities are required by the Department for Education (the department) to collect and return individual level data on children and family social workers. Some data items are not included in the statistical release, because of concerns over data quality; more information on this is provided in the ‘Data Quality and Uses’ section. Information on the data items collected in the census, including those collected on a voluntary basis, is provided in the guide to submitting data (opens in a new tab).

Data is collected at an individual social worker level and figures in this statistics publication are shown on both a headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) basis. The only exceptions to this method of collecting data are the number of vacancies (FTE) and the number of FTE agency workers covering vacancies that are collected at an aggregate (local authority) level.

Data cleaning

Local authorities submit their data to the department through the COLLECT (collections online for learning, education, children and teachers) data collection system. This data is stored securely by the department and access to it is restricted to a small number of officials prior to publication.

The department carries out validation checks, including those that are built into the data collection system, and additional credibility checks that make comparisons between the data collected for the current year and the previous year. The validation checks built into the data collection system enable local authorities to identify errors and discrepancies, and clean their data before it is submitted to the department.

Throughout the data collection local authorities were encouraged to check and, where necessary, correct errors and discrepancies within their data. All local authorities were asked to provide comments against any validation queries in their data and to confirm that the data submitted was accurate.

Definitions

Children and family social workers

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. Children and family social workers are employed and paid directly by the local authority.

Agency workers

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.

Headcount

Headcount is a count of all individual children and family social workers regardless of their working pattern. In instances where a social worker holds more than one post, only one post (the more senior role where applicable) is counted to avoid duplication.

For headcount at 30 September of the reporting year, duplicates are removed based on local authority, SWE identifier, date of birth, gender and ethnicity. This provides a count of the number of individual social workers regardless of their working pattern.

For starters and leavers during the year duplicates are removed based on local authority, SWE identifier, date of birth, gender, ethnicity and start or leaving date.

Duplicate records for agency workers are not removed, with each record regarded as a separate individual.

Full-time equivalent

Duplicates are not removed from full-time equivalent (FTE) figures. FTEs are derived by aggregating the total number of hours that staff are contracted to work and dividing by the standard hours for their grade. In this way, part-time staff are converted into an equivalent number of ‘full-time’ staff. This allows for meaningful comparisons of measures such as caseload across local authorities.

FTE figures exclude records for social workers whose FTE was recorded as zero; this was 0.5% of records for children and family social workers in post at 30 September 2023, compared to 0.7% in 2022 and 1.0% in 2017.

Starters

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.

Refer to the data quality section for details of data quality issues regarding this measure.

Leavers

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.

Movers between local authorities 

Movers between local authorities refers to FTE children and family social worker leavers (as above) who have moved to a children and family social work position in a different local authority in England (and were identified as such on 30 September of the reporting year).

Agency attrition 

Agency attrition refers to FTE children and family social worker leavers now working as an agency children and family social worker, either in the same or a different local authority in England (and were identified as such on 30 September of the reporting year).

Full attrition 

Full attrition refers to FTE children and family social worker leavers who were not identified as a children and family social worker or agency children and family social worker within any local authority in England (on 30 September of the reporting year).

Cases

A case is defined as any person allocated to a named social worker, where the work involves child and family social work. This may include:

  • an individual child allocated to a social worker (for example, a family of three siblings where each child is allocated to a social worker counts as three individual cases) including those on a child protection plan, children in need, fostering and adoption cases and care leavers
  • a carer or carers allocated to a social worker for the purposes of fostering or adoption.

Cases may be held by social workers regardless of their role in the organisation and not just those specifically in a ‘case holder’ role.

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.

Some local authorities have raised issues around reporting the ‘number of cases held at 30 September’ data item and linking cases to social workers at an individual level.

The above issues should be taken into consideration when interpreting caseload figures.

Sickness absence

Sickness absence is the number of working days missed due to sickness absence during the year ending 30 September. It is possible that this measure of sickness absence did not give a full picture of capacity shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic; for example, workers may have been working from home whilst shielding and unable to carry out face to face work.

The Vulnerable children and young people survey (opens in a new tab) collected information on social workers unavailable to work due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Vacancies

The number of FTE vacancies within the local authority at 30 September. This is an aggregate (local authority-level) number collected by the local authority.

Age and gender

Age and gender breakdowns are provided on both an FTE and headcount basis for:

  • Social workers in post at 30 September
  • Starters
  • Leavers

For children and family social workers in post at 30 September (including those who started during the reporting year), age is derived from the date of birth recorded in the census and is their age at 30 September of the reporting year.

The age of leavers is the age of the child and family social worker when they left their post at the local authority.

Gender is taken from the 'gender' data item collected in the census.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity groups are based on the ethnic origin data item collected in the census and are provided on both an FTE and headcount basis. FTE has been provided for the first time in the 2023 statistics (covering all years from 2017 to 2023). Of the ethnic groupings: 

  • White comprises white British, white Irish, or any other white background.
  • Mixed comprises white and black Caribbean, white and black African, white and Asian, or any other mixed background.
  • Asian or Asian British comprises Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese or any other Asian background. 
  • Black or Black British comprises black Caribbean, black African or any other black background.

Time in service at local authority

Time in service is derived from ‘Role Start Date’, which is collected in the census. 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.

Time in service breakdowns are provided for both FTE and headcount for:

  • Social workers in post at 30 September
  • Leavers

Calculations of headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) measures

Number of children and family social workers in post at 30 September

A count of the number of children and family social workers in post at 30 September of the reporting year by headcount and FTE. This measure includes all children and family social workers with a role start date on or before 30 September of the reporting year and either no end date or an end date after 30 September of the reporting year. It does not include agency workers, who are reported separately within this publication.

Number of children and family social worker starters during the year ending 30 September

A count of the number of children and family social workers with a start date during the year ending 30 September, by headcount and FTE. The calculation for FTE starter figures is based on FTE at 30 September of the reporting year.

Refer to the ‘Definitions’ section for more information on the definition of a starter.

Number of children and family social worker leavers during the year ending 30 September

A count of the number of children and family social workers with a leaving date during the year ending 30 September, by headcount and FTE. The calculation for FTE leaver figures is based on FTE at 30 September of the previous reporting year, for example: the FTE of leavers during the year ending 30 September 2023 is derived from their FTE at 30 September 2022.

Refer to the ‘Definitions’ section for more information on the definition of a leaver.

Number of children and family social worker movers during the year ending 30 September

A count of the number of FTE children and family social workers with a leaving date during the year to 30 September, who moved to a children and family social work position in a different local authority in England (and were identified as such on 30 September of the reporting year).

Number of children and family social workers leaving due to agency attrition during the year ending 30 September

A count of the number of FTE children and family social workers with a leaving date during the year to 30 September who were also employed as agency children and family social workers on 30 September of the reporting year.

Number of children and family social workers leaving due to full attrition during the year ending 30 September

A count of the number of FTE children and family social workers with a leaving date during the year to 30 September who were not identified as a children and family social worker or agency children and family social worker (on 30 September of the reporting year) within any local authority in England.

Mover rate

The mover rate is calculated as the number of FTE children and family social worker leavers who moved to a children and family social work position in a different local authority in England (and were identified as such on 30 September of the reporting year), divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers in post at 30 September.

Agency attrition rate

The agency attrition rate is calculated as the number of FTE children and family social worker leavers who are now working as an agency children and family social worker, either in the same or a different local authority in England (and were identified as such on 30 September of the reporting year), divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers in post at 30 September. 

Full attrition rate

The full attrition rate is calculated as the number of FTE children and family social worker leavers who were not identified as a children and family social worker or agency children and family social worker within any local authority in England (on 30 September of the reporting year) divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers in post at 30 September.

Time in service at local authority (also see definitions section above)

For children and family social workers in post at 30 September, time in service 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.

For children and family social worker leavers, time in service 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.

Number of agency workers in post at 30 September

A count of the number of agency workers employed as children and family social workers at 30 September of the reporting year. Data is collected only on those agency workers in post at 30 September and does not include those who left during the year.

Number of agency workers covering vacancies at 30 September

This is an aggregate (local authority-level) number collected by the local authority, at both FTE and headcount level.

Average caseload per full-time equivalent

The average caseload per FTE children and family social worker is calculated by taking the total number of cases held by each children and family social worker (including agency workers) at 30 September, divided by the number of FTE children and family social workers (including agency workers) in post at 30 September who held one or more cases and had an FTE greater than zero.

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 children and family social workers in post 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.

Agency worker rate

The agency worker rate is calculated as the number of agency staff working as children and family social workers at 30 September divided by the sum of the number of agency staff working as children and family social workers at 30 September and the number of children and family social workers at 30 September. This is calculated for both FTE and headcount.

Agency workers covering vacancies rate

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

Turnover rate

The turnover rate is calculated as the number of children and family social worker leavers in the year, divided by the number of social workers in post at 30 September. This is calculated for both FTE and headcount.

Refer to the ‘Definitions’ section for more information on the definition of leavers.

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 children and family social workers in post at 30 September.

Vacancy agency cover rate

The vacancy agency cover rate is calculated as the number of FTE agency workers in post at 30 September covering vacancies divided by the number of FTE vacancies at 30 September.

Data quality and uses

Data quality

The quality of the data has improved since the first collection of individual social worker data in 2017. This is mainly due to improved guidance and data validation, and the work undertaken by local authorities to provide accurate data in their census return.

Quality assurance checks have been carried out at each stage of the data collection and production cycle of the statistical publication. Anomalous data were highlighted and verified by contacting the local authority and late returns pursued to ensure overall response was as complete and accurate as possible.

The data collection included validation checks, as covered in the data collection and cleaning section. All local authorities were asked to provide comments on the return relating to any validation queries and, where applicable, asked to confirm that year on year changes were valid.

The majority of local authorities derive their children and family social work workforce data from their management information systems. This data requires checking and managerial sign off before it is submitted. However, the department does not collect information on the specific data checks carried out by local authorities.

Some known data quality issues are listed below:

Comparisons between years

Since 2013 the CSWW census has collected data for each full year ending 30 September. Data has been collected on an individual social worker level basis since 2017, whereas from 2013 to 2016 it was collected at an aggregate (local authority) level. Prior to 2013, the primary source for information on the children and family social work workforce was the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC), which was a voluntary return. The changes to the data collection mean the statistics are not directly comparable over time.

Data quality has continued to improve since the introduction of the individual level collection, with local authorities becoming more familiar with the return and their data collection systems better placed to provide the data. Furthermore, the department has improved the guidance and validation checks for the data collection. Year on year comparisons therefore may not represent true changes in the number of children and family social workers (and associated measures) and may in part be a result of improved reporting.

There are known discrepancies between years: for example, we would expect, at local authority level, that the number of children and family social workers in post for a reporting year would equal the number of social workers in post for the preceding reporting year plus the number of starters for the reporting year minus the number of leavers for the reporting year. However, this is not the case for a number of local authorities and may be due to improved reporting over time, or differences in how the department’s guidance on starters and leavers has been interpreted across different years.

As a result of the above issues any comparisons between years should be treated with a degree of caution.

Starters

The number of starters during the year is derived from the date a social worker started in a children and family social worker role at a local authority.

Some local authorities have reported that they have recorded start dates when an employee has moved children and family social worker posts within the same local authority. However, a start date should only be recorded where the person is a new children and family social worker: this includes child and family social workers who joined a vacant child and family social worker post at a new local authority and social workers who have previously worked in the same local authority, but in a non-child and family social worker role. It should not include a move or promotion from one child and family social work position to another child and family social work position within the same local authority.

As a result, the number of starters reported in this publication may be higher than the actual number, as moves or promotions from one child and family social work position to another child and family social work position within the same local authority may be included in the figures in some instances.

Duplicate records

Duplicates have been removed at a headcount level to account for cases where individuals have split roles; this avoids double counting. At FTE level, duplicates have not been removed so that the FTE for each role is captured.

There are some instances where the sum of the FTE for a social worker undertaking split roles is greater than 1. In this case the FTE for some local authorities may be greater than the headcount figure.

In the attrition statistics, where two or more records in the same year had the same Social Work England registration number, these were combined into a single record, with FTE added together.

This was to allow for a one-to-one matching process when identifying movers and agency attrition. However, the approach taken ensured that the FTE totals at a National level were not affected. 

FTE

An FTE of zero was recorded for some children and family social workers in the census. These workers are included in the headcount statistics. However they are excluded from the FTE count, since their FTE value is zero. In some instances, local authorities have reported that these children and family social workers were working on a zero hour contract or casual basis and therefore did not have an FTE.

The number of FTE children and family social workers at 30 September reported in this publication is therefore likely to undercount the actual total.

In 2023, 0.5% of records for children and family social workers in post at 30 September had an FTE value of zero, compared to 0.7% in 2022 and 1.0% in 2017.

FTE leavers

The FTE of leavers is based on their FTE at 30 September of the previous year. This was recorded as zero for some children and family social workers who left their post during the year. As a result these workers are included in the headcount of leavers, but are excluded from the FTE count of leavers; since their FTE leaver value is zero.

The number of FTE leavers reported in this publication is therefore likely to undercount the actual total.

In the year ending 30 September 2023, 5.8% of leavers had a value of zero recorded for their FTE at 30 September of the previous reporting year, compared to 5.9% in 2022 and 7.7% 2017.

Excluding leavers who also started during the same year (and so legitimately had an FTE of 0 at 30 September of the previous year), the proportion of leavers who had an FTE of zero at 30 September of the previous year was 1.1% in 2023, 0.8% in 2022 and 2.9% in 2017.

The missing information also affects the turnover rate at an FTE level, as these leavers are not included in the calculation.

Attrition and attrition rates

To determine attrition FTE and attrition rates, leavers were joined with the local authority employed workforce and the agency workforce at two separate stages. 

Errors and missing information for Social Work England registration numbers in data collection may have caused a small degree of over-estimation of full attrition, because this would have prevented leavers from being identified as movers or agency attrition. It is not yet possible to quantify the scale of this.

The methods used will also slightly underestimate true attrition because it relies on a fixed cut-off of 30 September. Any leavers who start roles on or after 1 October would have been treated as full attrition, rather than movers or agency attrition. The impact of this is likely to have been small. This issue was explored in depth in the 2022 ad hoc publication, which found that over 70% of movers started their new role within a week of leaving their old role. Future methods development will continue to explore the impact of using a fixed cut-off date.

Gaps and inconsistencies

Local authorities may not be able to provide a complete and consistent set of data for all statutory data variables. In this case data is shown as not available (denoted by ‘x’) within the data files.

Data quality for specific LAs

Gateshead

After the CSWW census closed on 30 November 2022, Gateshead local authority informed DfE that the data they had submitted for leavers in the year ending 30 September 2022 was incorrect and a significant undercount of the true number. This also affects the turnover figures for the local authority, and so these figures have been suppressed in this publication due to low reliability.

Bury

After the 2023 CSWW census closed on 30 November 2023, Bury local authority informed DfE that the data they had submitted as part of the 2022 census for vacancies at 30 September 2022 was incorrect and an overcount of the true number. Caution should therefore be taken when interpreting this figure.

Lancashire

After the 2023 CSWW census closed on 30 November 2023, Lancashire local authority informed DfE that the data they had submitted as part of the 2022 census for workers in post at 30 September 2022 and for starters and leavers during the year ending 30 September 2022 was incorrect and were undercounts of the true numbers. Caution should therefore be taken when interpreting this data.

Sefton 

After the 2023 CSWW census closed on 30 November 2023, Sefton local authority informed DfE that the data they had submitted for the number of working days lost due to sickness absence was incorrect and a significant overcount of the true figure. This also affects the absence rate measure, and so both figures have been suppressed in this publication due to low reliability.

Sutton

After the 2023 CSWW census closed on 30 November 2023, Sutton local authority informed DfE that the data they submitted for the number of FTE agency workers was incorrect and a significant undercount of the true figure. This also affects the agency rate and agency cover rate measures, and so these figures have been suppressed in this publication due to low reliability.

Data items not included in the statistical publication 

Some data items collected in the children’s social work workforce census are not included in this statistical release, in some cases this is because of low response rates or concerns regarding the quality of the data. These are listed as follows:

Mandatory data items:

  • Reason for leaving
  • Destination of leaver
  • Origin when started
  • Qualification level
  • Frontline and step up graduates

Voluntary data items:

  • Absent on 30 September
  • Reason for absence
  • Knowledge and skills statement
  • Qualifying institution
  • Length of current post/assignment (agency workers only)

Data uses

The main internal users of these statistics are officials within the department, who use the information to provide advice to ministers on current and future policies. 

The main external users of these statistics are local authorities, who use the information to compare the statistics for their own local authority with national and regional statistics, and benchmark their statistics against those of other local authorities. Ofsted and the Children's Commissioner for England also use the data and statistics.

Symbology, rounding and revisions

Symbology

The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows: 

     c    to protect confidentiality - secondary suppression may also be applied to figures to protect confidentiality

     u      low reliability

     x      data not available 

     z      data not applicable 

Data may not be available for a number of reasons, including where a local authority was unable to return a particular data item in the CSWW census or because data was not available due to concerns regarding quality.

Rounding

In the statistical commentary, figures for FTEs and headcounts have been rounded to the nearest 100, 10 or whole number. Rates and percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number or to one decimal place.

In the underlying csv data files, figures for full-time equivalents (FTEs), rates, percentages, caseload and working days have been rounded to one decimal place. Therefore component parts may not sum to totals if applicable. Headcounts and cases held are reported to the nearest whole number.

Revisions

In this release, minor improvements have been made to the methodology to ensure consistency throughout the series. These include:

  • Social workers who both started and left their role during the reporting year are no longer included in the headcount figures for starters and leavers (previously they were included for 2017 to 2022). This is now consistent with the approach taken for FTE.
  • Social workers of Chinese ethnicity are now included in the ‘Asian / Asian British’ grouping throughout all data files and throughout all years (previously they were included under ‘other ethnic group’ for some of the data files for 2017 to 2020). This is consistent with Office for National Statistics guidance.
  • Social workers who left their role on 30 September of the reporting year are no longer included in the figures for social workers in post at 30 September for all years of data (previously, they were included in the FTE figures for 2017 to 2020 and the headcount figures for 2017 to 2021). 
  • Social workers with an FTE of 0 who hold cases are excluded from the average caseload calculation for all years (previously they were included in the average caseload calculations for 2017 to 2021).

As a result of these changes, some of the figures for 2017 to 2022 included in this release differ very slightly to those initially published in earlier releases. However, the impact on the time-series and the interpretation of trends at a national level remain unaffected. Changes have been applied to the relevant values presented in the latest publication, and therefore the latest publication should be used when considering the historic timeseries of data since 2017.

Children in need: Statistics on children in need in England, including child protection plans and referrals to and assessments completed by children’s social care services. 

Children looked after in England including adoptions: Children looked after, care leavers and children adopted in England. Annual statistics including characteristics, placement information and health outcomes.

Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in EnglandChildren in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England, national and local authority level outcomes including key stage 4 and absence.

Help and support

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

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If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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