Headline social work information

Data correct as at September 2023

Next update due: February 2025

This page provides the estimated number of social workers employed by local authority adult social services departments in England as at September 2022. This does not include social workers employed in the independent sector or those working in the NHS. Data on the children’s social work workforce is published by the Department for Education.

Information in this report includes recruitment and retention, demographics and pay rates. Download a copy of the report.

Downloading the visualisation

There are additional notes about the data when you hover over the ( i ) buttons in the visualisation
Download the data behind the visualisation in the ‘Download area’ below
Download a PDF version of each page of the visualisation by clicking on the arrow found at the bottom right of the visualisation box
For information about how workforce estimates are created or our rounding and suppression rules, please visit our webpage on methodology.
If you require data that isn’t available in the visualisation or available downloads, please contact us.

Download area

Headline social work report

Further resources

For further information at national level, see The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England report which looks at workforce characteristics and trends.
Workforce information is also available at a regional level.
Information from the ASC-WDS is also reported at a local level.
Monthly tracking data is also available for total staff, vacancy rates, staff sickness and international recruitment.
The social work education report presents information on social work higher education in England, using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to analyse the current trends in social work education.
The Approved Mental Health Professionals workforce (AMHP) report includes estimated numbers, employment information, recruitment and retention, demographics and pay rates if this part of the workforce.

Commission us

We can be commissioned to produce a bespoke analysis of workforce information to answer any specific questions you have about the adult social care workforce. Take a look at our 'commission our services' page for more information or contact us to talk about how we can help.