Number of agency social workers falls for first time in seven years in children’s services

The number of agency children’s social workers in English local authorities has fallen for the first time in seven years, official figures show.

As of 30 September 2024, councils were engaging 6,521 full-time equivalent (FTE) agency practitioners, down by 658 (9.2%) on the year before, according to the Department for Education’s (DfE) annual statistics on the children’s services workforce.

This is the first such fall since the DfE started collecting data on locum numbers in 2017.

The proportion of the workforce FTE made up by agency workers fell sharply, from 17.9% in 2023 – the highest rate yet recorded – to 16.2% in 2024.

Agency social work rules’ impact

The data bears out comments made in July 2024 by Association of Directors of Children’s Services president Andy Smith, who said that use of agency workers was declining due to the impending introduction of rules restricting their use.

The DfE rules, which started to be implemented at the end of October 2024 – a month after the workforce figures were collected – are designed to reduce council spending on agency workers and improve continuity of practitioner support for children and families.

Under the policy, authorities are expected to agree regional pay caps on locums’ hourly rates, refrain from hiring early career practitioners – or staff who have recently left permanent roles in the same region – as agency workers and ensure they directly manage all staff hired through so-called project teams.

The rules are being brought into force gradually, with final implementation due by 1 October 2025.

Fall in agency social worker numbers ‘a positive step’

In commentary on the workforce figures, the DfE suggested councils’ preparation for the rules’ introduction had played a part in the reduction in the use of agency social workers.

“The department’s engagement with local authorities earlier in the year around the issuing of this new guidance may have contributed, at least in part, to the fall in agency social workers in 2024,” it said.

This was endorsed by ADCS workforce policy committee chair Nicola Curley, who said: “It is a positive development that the number of agency children’s social workers has fallen for the first time in seven years.

“While new agency rules only took effect in October, the lead in time and clear messaging from government doubtlessly contributed to this picture, further reducing the sector’s reliance on agency workers, enabling us to provide more consistent support to the children and families we work with.”

Regional variations 

The number of agency workers – and their proportion of the workforce – fell in every region apart from the North East, though it retained its place as the area with the lowest locum rate, at 10.4%.

The sharpest fall in the agency rate came in Yorkshire and the Humber, where it dropped from 15.8% to 11.6%, followed by the West Midlands, where it fell from 16.6% to 13.9%.

London continued to have the highest agency staff rate, but this fell from 23.2% to 21.9% from 2023-24.

As in previous years, most agency social workers, nationally, were covering vacancies in children’s services, with the proportion doing so – 81.3% – reaching the highest level recorded.

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