Social workers for children and families
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- in September 2024, local authorities in England employed 36,400 social workers for children and families – ethnicity was known for 81.4% of them
- 73.8% of social workers were White and 15.2% were Black (where ethnicity was known)
- by comparison, 80.0% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) in England were White and 4.6% were Black (2021 Census)
- in the 7 years to September 2024, the percentage of social workers who were White went down, and the percentage who were Black went up
Further research
The Department for Education commissioned a 5-year longitudinal study on child and family social work, which ran between 2018 and 2023. In wave 4 of the study (PDF opens in a new window or tab), participants were asked about how they felt issues related to race and ethnicity impacted their work. Most participants were positive about ethnic diversity within the workforce as a whole, and some said that it could help families if they shared some aspects of race, ethnicity or culture with their social worker. But some participants shared concerns that although the overall workforce was diverse, senior leaders were mainly White British. Some participants also felt they experienced discrimination from the families they worked with.
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the number of social workers working in children and family services, and the percentage from each ethnic group (out of those whose ethnicity was known).
The data includes social workers who are both:
- registered with Social Work England
- working with children and families in a local authority in England
The data is based on the total number of full-time and part-time social workers counted on 30 September each year.
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 16 ethnic groups used in the 2001 Census.
Data is also shown for the following aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Mixed
- White
- Other
Ethnicity was known for 81.4% of the total social workforce.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Population data comes from the 2021 Census. Read more about how we use Census data
In the data file
Download the data for the numbers and percentage of social workers by ethnicity including those with unknown ethnic group between 2017 and 2024.
3. By ethnicity
| Children and family social workers | Working age population | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Children and family social workers % | Children and family social workers Number | Working age population % | Working age population Number |
| All | 100.0 | 36,402 | 100.0 | 35,605,685 |
| Asian | 6.5 | 1,913 | 10.5 | 3,723,690 |
| Bangladeshi | 0.7 | 216 | 1.2 | 418,065 |
| Chinese | 0.1 | 38 | 0.9 | 331,590 |
| Indian | 2.9 | 859 | 3.6 | 1,278,500 |
| Pakistani | 1.8 | 540 | 2.8 | 1,012,925 |
| Asian other | 0.9 | 260 | 1.9 | 682,610 |
| Black | 15.2 | 4,494 | 4.6 | 1,638,100 |
| Black African | 8.7 | 2,564 | 2.9 | 1,034,110 |
| Black Caribbean | 4.3 | 1,260 | 1.3 | 445,425 |
| Black other | 2.3 | 670 | 0.4 | 158,565 |
| Mixed | 3.6 | 1,069 | 2.5 | 893,950 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 0.6 | 171 | 0.7 | 232,935 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 0.6 | 168 | 0.3 | 118,335 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 1.5 | 444 | 0.8 | 282,775 |
| Mixed other | 1.0 | 286 | 0.7 | 259,905 |
| White | 73.8 | 21,869 | 80.0 | 28,488,270 |
| White British | 66.6 | 19,743 | 70.8 | 25,224,615 |
| White Irish | 2.4 | 719 | 0.9 | 310,265 |
| White other | 4.7 | 1,407 | 8.0 | 2,834,335 |
| Other | 0.9 | 278 | 2.4 | 861,675 |
| Other ethnic background | 0.9 | 278 | 1.8 | 647,860 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 6,779 | N/A* | N/A* |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Social workers for children and families By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that, on 30 September 2024:
- local authorities in England employed 36,402 social workers for children and families – ethnicity was known for 81.4% of them
- 73.8% of social workers were White and 15.2% were Black (where ethnicity was known)
- by comparison, 80.0% of working age people in England were White and 4.6% were Black (2021 Census)
- out of the 16 ethnic groups, 8.7% of social workers were from the Black African ethnic group – the second highest percentage after the White British ethnic group (66.6%)
- 0.1% were from the Chinese ethnic group – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity over time
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | 2017 % | 2017 Number | 2018 % | 2018 Number | 2019 % | 2019 Number | 2020 % | 2020 Number | 2021 % | 2021 Number | 2022 % | 2022 Number | 2023 % | 2023 Number | 2024 % | 2024 Number |
| All | 100.0 | 30,646 | 100.0 | 31,653 | 100.0 | 32,851 | 100.0 | 33,928 | 100.0 | 34,620 | 100.0 | 33,689 | 100.0 | 35,199 | 100.0 | 36,402 |
| Asian | 5.3 | 1,332 | 5.5 | 1,435 | 5.6 | 1,509 | 5.7 | 1,566 | 5.7 | 1,603 | 5.9 | 1,614 | 6.1 | 1,737 | 6.5 | 1,913 |
| Bangladeshi | 0.6 | 142 | 0.6 | 151 | 0.6 | 165 | 0.6 | 171 | 0.6 | 179 | 0.7 | 178 | 0.7 | 196 | 0.7 | 216 |
| Chinese | 0.1 | 29 | 0.1 | 35 | 0.2 | 41 | 0.1 | 40 | 0.1 | 39 | 0.1 | 39 | 0.1 | 37 | 0.1 | 38 |
| Indian | 2.6 | 659 | 2.5 | 663 | 2.7 | 712 | 2.6 | 728 | 2.6 | 724 | 2.6 | 722 | 2.7 | 778 | 2.9 | 859 |
| Pakistani | 1.3 | 330 | 1.4 | 377 | 1.6 | 417 | 1.5 | 426 | 1.5 | 430 | 1.6 | 446 | 1.7 | 486 | 1.8 | 540 |
| Asian other | 0.7 | 172 | 0.8 | 209 | 0.6 | 174 | 0.7 | 201 | 0.8 | 231 | 0.8 | 229 | 0.8 | 240 | 0.9 | 260 |
| Black | 10.6 | 2,671 | 11.1 | 2,912 | 12.0 | 3,231 | 12.3 | 3,376 | 12.8 | 3,580 | 13.3 | 3,632 | 14.1 | 4,029 | 15.2 | 4,494 |
| Black African | 4.4 | 1,102 | 4.8 | 1,265 | 5.5 | 1,483 | 6.0 | 1,644 | 6.4 | 1,784 | 7.0 | 1,908 | 7.7 | 2,192 | 8.7 | 2,564 |
| Black Caribbean | 4.5 | 1,129 | 4.4 | 1,144 | 4.4 | 1,182 | 4.3 | 1,174 | 4.2 | 1,178 | 4.1 | 1,117 | 4.3 | 1,219 | 4.3 | 1,260 |
| Black other | 1.7 | 440 | 1.9 | 503 | 2.1 | 566 | 2.0 | 558 | 2.2 | 618 | 2.2 | 607 | 2.2 | 618 | 2.3 | 670 |
| Mixed | 3.1 | 783 | 3.3 | 877 | 3.5 | 932 | 3.5 | 966 | 3.9 | 1,102 | 3.8 | 1,050 | 3.5 | 985 | 3.6 | 1,069 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 0.5 | 132 | 0.6 | 147 | 0.6 | 162 | 0.7 | 184 | 0.8 | 219 | 0.7 | 189 | 0.6 | 174 | 0.6 | 171 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 0.6 | 140 | 0.5 | 141 | 0.5 | 138 | 0.5 | 146 | 0.5 | 139 | 0.6 | 169 | 0.5 | 139 | 0.6 | 168 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 1.2 | 290 | 1.3 | 343 | 1.4 | 383 | 1.4 | 385 | 1.6 | 459 | 1.5 | 421 | 1.4 | 408 | 1.5 | 444 |
| Mixed other | 0.9 | 221 | 0.9 | 246 | 0.9 | 249 | 0.9 | 251 | 1.0 | 285 | 1.0 | 271 | 0.9 | 264 | 1.0 | 286 |
| White | 80.0 | 20,143 | 79.0 | 20,717 | 78.0 | 20,927 | 77.7 | 21,352 | 76.6 | 21,383 | 76.1 | 20,833 | 75.4 | 21,498 | 73.8 | 21,869 |
| White British | 73.1 | 18,406 | 71.7 | 18,786 | 70.8 | 19,000 | 71.4 | 19,632 | 70.4 | 19,661 | 69.7 | 19,081 | 69.0 | 19,692 | 66.6 | 19,743 |
| White Irish | 1.6 | 393 | 2.5 | 645 | 1.4 | 387 | 1.3 | 354 | 1.3 | 359 | 1.6 | 425 | 1.4 | 413 | 2.4 | 719 |
| White other | 5.3 | 1,344 | 4.9 | 1,286 | 5.7 | 1,540 | 5.0 | 1,366 | 4.9 | 1,363 | 4.8 | 1,327 | 4.9 | 1,393 | 4.7 | 1,407 |
| Other | 1.0 | 250 | 1.1 | 276 | 0.8 | 225 | 0.8 | 224 | 0.9 | 241 | 0.9 | 244 | 1.0 | 273 | 0.9 | 278 |
| Other ethnic background | 1.0 | 250 | 1.1 | 276 | 0.8 | 225 | 0.8 | 224 | 0.9 | 241 | 0.9 | 244 | 1.0 | 273 | 0.9 | 278 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 5,467 | N/A* | 5,436 | N/A* | 6,027 | N/A* | 6,444 | N/A* | 6,711 | N/A* | 6,316 | N/A* | 6,677 | N/A* | 6,779 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Social workers for children and families By ethnicity over time Summary
Numbers and percentages shown below are based on social workers whose ethnicity was known.
The data shows that, between 2017 and 2024:
- the total number of social workers for children and families went up from 30,646 to 36,402, an increase of 18.8%
- the percentage of total social workers who were White went down from 80.0% to 73.8%
- the percentage who were Black went up from 10.6% to 15.2%
- the percentage who were Asian went up from 5.3% to 6.5%
5. Data sources
Source
Children's social work workforce
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Department for Education
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The data is used by the government, local authorities, Ofsted, and the Children’s Commissioner for England to set, monitor and evaluate policy relating to the child and family social workers.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following variables: measure, time, time_type, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, geography_type, geography, geography_code, value, value_type, numerator, denominator