Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Children’s social work workforce, published on 24 February 2022, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that vacant social worker positions are filled.

The government works closely with local authorities to recognise and understand their workforce pressures, and to ensure that there are enough high-quality child and family social workers in the system.

The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) child and family social workers employed by local authorities in England is increasing every year. On 30 September 2021, there were 32,500 FTE child and family social workers employed by local authorities in England. This is an increase of 2.0% compared to 2020, and an increase of 14.1% compared to 2017. The average social worker at a local authority in England held 16.3 cases in 2021, the same as in 2020, and down from 17.8 in 2017. 16.7% of social worker posts were vacant, up from 16.1% in 2020. This represents a total of 6,520 vacancies. However, there was considerable variation between regions – the North East had the lowest vacancy rate (8.7%), and London had the highest (23.5%). It is important to note that the 4,995 social worker who left their roles in 2021 includes all social workers who have moved between local authorities but are still working in children’s social care.

While we recognise the picture local authorities are seeing on the ground may vary from place to place, we are working closely with local authorities and using central programmes and funding to respond to their needs.

We are supporting the recruitment and retention of social workers through our investment in fast-track initial social worker training programmes, and in professional development programmes to improve leadership. We are also seeing some innovative practices from local authorities that are driving down agency rates and stabilising their workforces.

Our COVID-19 Recovery Action Plan aims to stabilise and strengthen children’s social care as we transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that we deliver well for children and young people and provide a strong foundation for longer-term reform, informed by the independent review of children’s social care.