Publications

Our workforce data, information and intelligence publications are all available from this section of the web-site. Immediately below are quick links to our most recent publications, followed by more detailed information on each publication.

Date Publication  
Feb 24 The Distribution of the Social Service Workforce Report   Here
Jan 24 The Fitness to Practise report Here
Jan 24 2022 Detailed workforce information   Here
Dec 23 2022 Children's Services Workforce Tables  Here
Nov 23 Adults' services workforce tables 2022  Here
Oct 23 Social worker filled posts and vacancies six-monthly survey  Here
Sep 23 The 2022 Staff vacancies in care services report Here
Sep 23 Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2022 Workforce Data Here
Sep 23 Register annual report 2022 to 2023  Here
Aug 23 Mental Health Officers time series data 2006 to 2022 Here
Aug 23 Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2022 Here
Aug 23 2022-2023 SVQ Tables Here
Jun 23 Movement of Day Care of Children Staff Report Here
May 23 2021 Children's Services Workforce Tables Here
Dec 22  The Adults' services time series 2011 to 2021 Here
Dec 22 2021 Detailed workforce information  Here
Nov 22 Staff vacancies in care services 2021  Here
Oct 22 Local Authority Post Types 2021  Here
Quarterly Registration and Early Learning and Childcare data    Here

February 2024

The Distribution of the Social Service Workforce

05 Feb 2024

This report looks at how the workforce in the social service sector (as defined by the Public Service Reform Scotland Act 2010 ) is distributed across employers of different size and types. We refer to these employers as providers throughout this report as these are the organisations that provide social services in Scotland.

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January 2024

Fitness to practise data report

31 Jan 2024

Fitness to practise data report

This new data report provides an insight into the SSSC’s role in protecting the public by ensuring the registered workforce is trusted, skilled and fit to practise. 

It’s the first time we’ve published such a report on our fitness to practise data. It follows a similar report on Register data we published last year and helps to build a unique insight into the social work, social care and children and young people workforce. 

People registered with the SSSC must meet the standards, behaviours and values set out in the SSSC’s Codes of Practice and we can take action if they fall below these standards. This can be removing them from the Register, suspension, a warning or a condition on their registration, for example to complete extra learning. 

The report shows the vast majority of the 170,313 people on our Register practise safely, effectively and are doing a great job. On average we investigate only 1.1.% of registrants each year and 96 people were removed from the Register during 2022-2023. 

It shows that the length of time we take to close fitness to practise referrals is reducing and takes on average 5.4 months. Other data in the report highlights that inappropriate behaviour at work is the most frequent type of behaviour we investigate. 

Information on differences between registration data and workforce data and their strengths and weaknesses can be found here: https://data.sssc.uk.com/what-we-do/registration-and-workforce-data

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2022 detailed workforce information

08 Jan 2024

This spreadsheet contains information about the Social Services Workforce collected from services regulated by the Care Inspectorate (via its Annual Returns in December) and from the annual December Local Authority Social Work Services Staffing Return in 2022.

We created this spreadsheet to provide you with more detailed information about the workforce than is currently available in the Workforce Data Report. The spreadsheet will allow you to interrogate the data in detail at a local authority area level.

Download (XLSX, 139KB)

Download (ODS, 119KB)

If you have any enquiries about these tables, please contact:

Zara Gall
Tel: 01382 723657
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 If you have general enquiries about the SSSC’s workforce intelligence publications, please contact:

Mike Docherty
Tel: 01382 723656
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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December 2023

2022 Children's Services Workforce Tables

19 Dec 2023

These tables look in detail at the children's services workforce in Scotland. It supplements data already published in the Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2022 Workforce Data.

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November 2023

Adults' services workforce tables 2022

30 Nov 2023

These tables look in detail at the adults' services workforce in Scotland. They supplement data already published in the Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2022 Workforce Data.

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October 2023

Social worker filled posts and vacancies six-monthly survey

31 Oct 2023

Analysis of the data collected as at 30 June 2023

This report presents findings from the first run of a proposed new six-monthly survey of local authority social work services (LASWS), which took place between June and August 2023. The survey asked for information on ‘practising social workers’, namely those in main grade social worker and senior social worker posts working within local authority social work services. It also asked for information on vacancies for practising social workers and about hard to fill vacancies.

The Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser (OCSWA) in the Scottish Government established a short life working group (SLWG) on social work workforce data in December 2022. It was set up to support the development of the National Social Work Agency (NSWA) by monitoring workforce trends, establishing demand for social work services and implications for recruitment, retention and training. The findings from the survey will feed back into the work of the SLWG and other intelligence and research that the group is looking to gather. This includes research into demand for social work services and a report due to be published later in 2023/24 by the SSSC on the inflows and outflows to the local authority social work workforce.

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