Analysis of the data as at 1st December 2025

This report presents findings on the WTE number of practising social workers (PSWs) and vacancies in local authorities in December 2025. The term PSWs covers all those employed as a social worker (SW) or senior social worker (SSW) in local authority social work services. It does not include social workers employed by local authorities in registered care services such as adoption or fostering services.

This is the sixth report on local authority PSWs and vacancies that we have published.

The key findings from the report are:

• There were 6,356 WTE practising social workers in December 2025. This is the highest total since records began in the 1990s.
• There was a 4.3% increase in the whole time equivalent (WTE) number of practising social workers between June 2025 and December 2025.
• Overall, the WTE of practising social workers has increased by 11.2% between December 2022 and December 2025.
• Between June 2025 and December 2025, the WTE of senior social workers increased (+6.0%) while main grade increased slightly (+3.8%).
• At the Scotland level the WTE per 100k population has increased from 104.9 PSWs in December 2022 to 114.6 in December 2025.
• The data from December 2025 shows a lower number of WTE vacancies compared to June 2025, with the same number, but different, reporting authorities. A minimum of 536 WTE were reported in December 2025 compared to 551 in June 2025.
• The December 2025 vacancy rate was 8.3%. This is the lowest figure since December 2020.
• Vacancy rates vary by fieldwork team, with higher rates in the children and adult fieldwork teams.
• Vacancy rates are higher for main grade posts (8.9%) than senior posts (6.1%).

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As an Official Statistics product, this publication complies with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008. The list of people who have pre-release access can be found here.

If you have any enquiries about the report please contact:

James Arnold
Intelligence Analyst
Workforce Intelligence Team
Scottish Social Services Council
Compass House
11 Riverside Drive
Dundee DD1 4NY

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.