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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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. 

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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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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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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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The interactive Social Worker Data Tool allows you to interactively investigate data on practising social workers employed by local authorities. Guidance and background notes are included within the tool.

The latest version of the tool can be donwloaded below

Download (XLSX, 472 kb)

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