BASW England initial response to latest statistics on children’s workforce

"We are losing too many social workers, there is not enough focus on retention"

Responding to new figures published today by the Department for Education showing a fall in number of frontline children’s social workers, record levels of vacant children’s social work posts and an increase in caseloads, BASW England commented:

Sadly, these figures are not a surprise. We know social workers are dedicated to supporting children and families but over the past five years we have been warning Government that their working conditions have been deteriorating year after year. Time and time again the reasons our members have given have remained consistent: unmanageable caseloads, not enough staff support and a lack of resources to truly help families, especially in early preventive services.

Adding to this context, recent research calculated social workers experiencing the worst pay growth in the UK public sector in the past decade. Coupled with inflation and the cost-of-living crisis we are hearing from many members that they are struggling themselves, with some having to use foodbanks.

Without urgent action we are risking highly motivated and experienced social workers leaving the profession, as well as risking the loss of newly qualified social workers early in their careers as they are not being supported enough to stay in the sector.

What compounds our concerns is that the funding allocated in the Government’s recent response to the independent review in children’s social care (IRCSC), was a mere £200m, compared to the £2bn the review insisted was needed. Without sustained, long-term funding we fear these workforce figures will worsen, with the impact being felt most by vulnerable families.

The findings heighten concerns that the Department for Education’s proposals to reduce the use and cost of agency social work in children’s services will have the potential unintended consequence of depleting this already diminished workforce further. According to a Community Care poll, which drew 759 responses, 81% said that more locums would be pushed to leave social work in children’s services as a result of the proposed restrictions. Whilst many welcome some of the proposals, they should not be implemented without addressing the reasons why people choose locum work over permanent positions, which are varied and complex and not simply related to rates of pay.

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  • The latest figures from the UK Government on numbers of children and family social workers and agency social workers employed in local authorities in England from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022 are available here.
  • The figures show that 5,400 children and family social workers left in the 12-month period, up 9% from the previous year and is the highest in the series. The vacancy rate has also increased by 21% from the previous 12-month period.
  • Average caseloads per full-time children and family social workers have also increased from 16.3 in 2021 to 16.6.
  • The number of full-time agency children and family social workers has increased by 13% to 6,800 as of 30 September 2022.