Here is what we've been working on during 2023/24:

The majority of our reports and data sets are published annually while a small number of our reports and data sets are published more frequently (e.g. quarterly SSSC registration data) or are just occasional publications (e.g. our workforce skills reports).

In June we published a report for the first time exploring the Movement of Day Care of Children Staff between different types of employers. The report was based on data from the SSSC Register for 2021/22 which has a unique identifier that allows us to see changes in registrants’ employment over time.

In August we published the annual National Statistics report on Mental Health Officers which is based on data collected directly by us from all local authorities in Scotland. As with all our reports we published the tables from it separately alongside the report. We also published MHO time series data set (2006-22). A further data set providing data on registrations and certifications for SVQs and modern apprenticeships in 2022-23 relevant to workforce registration was published in August.

Our annual Official Statistics report on the Scottish social service sector’s workforce in December 2022 was published in early September. And the Staff vacancies in Care Services report which we produce jointly with the Care Inspectorate was published at the end of the month.

In October we published what is expected to be the first mid-year report on the number of whole time equivalent (WTE) practising social workers and the number of WTE vacancies for them. The data were collected by us from local authorities as at 30 June. In addition to this report we also published two data sets on the local authority social work services workforce with data from December 2022. The local authority post types 2022 which provides information both at a Scotland level and individual authority level of all staff working within social work services broken down by the type of post. And the interactive social worker data tool, which provides time series data (2013-22) on the headcount, headcount per capita, WTE and WTE per capita of practising social workers within each local authority area. This can be further broken down by the type of social worker and type of fieldwork team they work in.

In November we published our annual detailed data set on the adults services workforce. This provides a more detailed breakdown of the data published in the annual workforce report. For example it looks at data on care homes for adults by the various sub-types (including care homes for older people and care homes for people with learning disabilities). It also looks in a similar way at housing support and care at home services.

In December we published our annual detailed data set on the children’s services workforce. This provides a more detailed breakdown of the data published in the annual workforce report. For example it looks at data on residential child care by its three sub-types namely, children’s homes, residential schools and secure accommodation. It also looks in a similar way at day care for children and funded early learning and childcare services.

In January we published the detailed annual data set on those working in the sector by individual local authorities. The data set includes information on the type of service, the type of employer, the age and gender profiles of the workforce and the job roles.

In February we published a report on the way that the workforce is distributed across employers of differing size and type. This report is under development as a set of official statistics and based on the feedback we receive we will decide whether and how to publish such data in the future.

In addition to the above workforce data publications we have also continued to publish data each quarter on the numbers of people registered with the SSSC, by category. We also published for the first time a report that looks in a more detail at those registered with the SSSC and a report that looks at Fitness to Practice cases. An explanation of the differences between the workforce data we collect and collate and SSSC registration data can be found here.

In 2024/25 we expect to publish all the workforce publications listed above using data from December 2023. In terms of our Official Statistics and National Statistics reports we expect them to be published as follows:

Official Statistics - Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2023 Workforce Data – August 2024

National Statistics - Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023 – August 2024