‘It's devastating to see my colleagues struggle knowing how hard we all work’

Job security

Job security remains high with 65.8 per cent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing they feel secure in their current job. This is comparable with 2022. 

Job satisfaction

The proportion of people who said they were happy in their current job dropped last year to 55.5 per cent from 61.8 per cent in 2022. The proportion who were unhappy in their job increased from 28.1 per cent to 32.3 per cent.

Happy in profession

Three-fifths (60.4 per cent) of social workers are happy in the profession they have chosen, slightly up from 2022 (59.1 per cent).

Public perception

Social workers continue to feel undervalued by the public. Asked on a scale of one to ten to rate the public’s perception of them, with one ‘poor’ and ten ‘excellent’, the average score was three. This represents a drop from 3.3 in 2022 and 3.6 in 2021.

One respondent said: “I think one of the most significant issues is that we don’t have a public image, we exist in silence, we are not visible in mainstream media in the way that the NHS is.”

What helps at work?

Asked to choose the three things that have the most positive impact on the working day,, the top choice was peer support (45.4 per cent), consistent with previous years.

The second was having an appropriate level of management and supervision (44.2 per cent), followed by effective multi-agency and/or partnership working (28.8 per cent). Training and learning opportunities came next (26.5 per cent) followed by space and time for reflective practice (19.6 per cent); then came sufficient resource (18.3 per cent), service deployment and improvement opportunities (15.1 per cent) and career progression (13.5 per cent).

Any positive changes at work?

Asked if they have noticed any positive changes in the workplace over the last year, 40 per cent indicated they hadn’t. However, among those noting improvements, more flexible working was the top result (21.6 per cent), a factor likely attributable to post-Covid employment practice changes.

Better team working and relationships/culture was the next most noted positive change (17 per cent), followed by a more effective and supportive environment for self-care (12.5 per cent); better peer support (10.2 per cent); clearer organisational direction (9.3 per cent); better supervision (9 per cent); greater access to CPD (8.9 per cent); better career development opportunities (6.1 per cent) and more manageable workload (six per cent).

Biggest challenges at work

Asked to choose the three biggest challenges at work, inadequate staffing levels came top (46.9 per cent) for the first time. This reflects concerns expressed by the social work profession of high vacancy rates across the UK. The next biggest challenge was access to resources (46 per cent) followed by workload demand (43.6 per cent) and demands of admin (43.1 per cent). These have been the top four concerns over the last two surveys. Other key concerns include inadequate reflective time, space or practice supervision (15.8 per cent); management of change in organisation (13.8 per cent); keeping up with professional development and/or mandatory training (13.5 per cent); inadequate managerial support (13.5 per cent); lack of career progression (9.7 per cent) and bullying and/or harassment (8.7 per cent).

Biggest challenges for the social work profession

Asked to choose the three biggest challenges for the social work profession now and in the immediate future, cuts to local services came top (67.4 per cent) for the first time. This is likely a reflection of the current state of local authority funding. 

One respondent said: “Not properly funding social work, for too long, has had a detrimental impact on social care, and many services are hanging by a thread. This has a detrimental impact on all of us trying to keep services going. It's devastating to see my colleagues struggle, knowing how hard we all work, and I often feel taken advantage of by those who decide to continue to underfund social care.”

The next biggest challenge was failure to adequately fund social care (62.2 per cent), which came top the two previous years. Recruitment and retention was next (41.2 per cent) followed by not having enough time to spend with service users (31.3 per cent); the cost of living crisis (30.1 per cent); the impact of profit-driven models in health and social care (19.5 per cent); widening/deepening poverty (15 per cent); abuse or violence at work (9.5 per cent); public perception (9.2 per cent); media perception  (8.5 per cent) and meeting requirements of the regulators (5.3 per cent).

What would you like BASW to do about it?

Asked to list the three ways BASW can support you and your organisation, more campaigning for higher pay and better working conditions came top (54.4 per cent). Action to change public and media perceptions of social work came next (47.9 per cent) followed by more direct work within social work employers to improve conditions for practice (43.7 per cent); more visible campaigns and a louder voice for social work on practice, policy and ethical issues (43.3 per cent); more support for member wellbeing and self-care (25.1 per cent); more professional and career development opportunities (17.1 per cent) and individual coaching, mentoring and/or career development support (13.4 per cent).

Workload

Asked if they were able to complete their work within contracted hours, a significant majority of social workers (64.6 per cent) said no. This aligns with findings from previous years (59.6 per cent in 2021 and 68 per cent in 2022).

Half (50.2 per cent) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement ‘I feel able to manage my current workload’. 

Nearly three-quarters (73.7 per cent) reported having to work additional hours to complete their work in an average week. Most did between one and five hours (29.6 per cent). Nearly a quarter (23.5 per cent) did between five and ten hours extra a week. Almost ten per cent (9.8 per cent) did between ten and 15 hours and 6.4 per cent over 15 hours.

Asked if they are paid overtime for additional work, most (67.1 per cent) said no. Only 1.4 per cent were paid for all the additional hours worked and 4.6 per cent for some.

Turnover

Asked if they have noticed an increase in experienced social workers leaving over the last year, 65 per cent said yes. The report noted: “This suggests there has been a noticeable drain of experienced social workers from the workforce, although it is not clear whether they are taking up social work roles elsewhere, retiring or taking roles outside social work.”

Nearly all (92 per cent) of respondents said this loss of experienced workers has had a negative impact on the workplace and practice.

Bullying, harassment, discrimination

Asked if they had experienced this at work or study, or were aware of someone who has in the last year, 41.1 per cent said yes. Of these, six out of ten (58.2 per cent) said they had direct experience themselves. Four out of ten (37.4 per cent) had witnessed someone else suffering. More than half (53 per cent) said at least one person had confided in them about their experiences and 38.6 per cent witnessed at least one person say or do things they considered to be bullying, harassment and/or discrimination. The findings are largely consistent with previous years. Three-fifths (60.4 per cent) said they reported the incident but more than half (53 per cent) said no concrete steps were taken to address the situation. Where steps were taken, only 9.4 per cent said it led to a satisfactory outcome.

Cost of living crisis and poverty

Half (51.1 per cent) of respondents agree or strongly agree that the number of people they work with has increased as a result of the cost of living crisis.

Nearly two-thirds (63.7 per cent) agree or strongly agree that they work with more people living in poverty than before the cost of living crisis.

Sustainability

Two-thirds (65.1 per cent) of respondents said people they work with are negatively impacted by issues relating to the climate crisis. The biggest risk identified was access or affordability of nutritious food (74.5 per cent) followed by extreme cold (59.4 per cent), flooding (49.5 per cent) and air pollution (47.4 per cent).

Promoting the vote

Asked if respondents believed social workers have a role to play in promoting voting, 67.9 per cent said yes, but only 19 per cent have done so in previous elections.