Agency Social Workers

(asked on 11th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department had made of the trends in the level of agency social workers in English councils.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 23rd April 2019

The adult social care workforce is vital and local authorities, like any employer, need to ensure they have the right numbers of staff with the right skills.

Between 2012/13 and 2017/18, the number of agency social workers increased from 2% to 6.8% (330 – 1,100 jobs)

Across Government, we are continuing our ambitious programme to deliver improvements to the status and standing of the social work profession and increase numbers, including providing funding for the social work bursary and providing support to social workers who have left the profession and want to return through a Return to Practice programme.

In the last year for which we have data, the level of agency social workers has fallen by 0.6% (90 jobs). This decrease corresponds with a rise in the number of social workers employed by local authorities, by 800 jobs since September 2017.

Reticulating Splines