Average pay for social workers in council adults’ services in England fell by 5.3% from 2016-24, official data shows.

As of September 2024, the (mean) average salary for practitioners was £43,000, up 2% on the level 12 months earlier after taking account of inflation, said Skills for Care’s annual report on the local authority workforce.

In cash terms, practitioners were earning about £9,000 more on average, in 2024, compared with 2016, when the figure was £34,200.

However, once inflation is taken into account, the value of social workers’ pay has fallen by £2,500 over that time.

Skills for Care’s figures show that real-terms pay was relatively static from 2016-21 and then fell dramatically from 2021-22 on the back of the sharp and sustained rise in inflation following the economic recovery from Covid and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  Since then, only some of the lost ground in real-terms pay has been recovered.

The figures capture the impact of promotions, pay progression and the annual rise in salaries to take account of the cost of living.

This year’s pay claim

For most councils in England, the latter is determined through the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, which is made up of representatives from employers and the three main unions, UNISON, the GMB and Unite.

The unions have put in a bid for a £3,000 increase in pay in 2025-26, alongside a boost to annual leave and a cut in the working week. They have argued that such a rise is “overdue” due to many years of pay settlements they have deemed inadequate.

Employers are yet to make an offer to staff. However, this will likely be far below the unions’ claim, in the context of the significant pressures facing councils in 2025-26, including those arising from the government’s increase in national insurance contributions for employers.

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Cafcass has agreed a pay deal for its staff covering 2024-25.

Staff, including the family court body’s approximately 1,700 social workers, have been a given a 4.43% increase, backdated to April 2024.

Pay talks at Cafcass were delayed by the general election, which meant the incoming Labour government did not issue a pay policy for the civil service until the end of July last year.

5% pay ceiling

This stated that government departments could, on average, increase their pay bills by 5% in 2024-25.

As is standard practice, Cafcass then entered talks with its sponsoring department, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), over its pay remit for 2024-25, before making an offer to the two unions representing staff, Napo and UNISON.

Though the MoJ gave Cafcass a remit to raise pay by 5%, its across-the-board offer to staff was less than this to allow scope for other pay increases made during the year.

‘The best outcome achievable’

Napo and UNISON then agreed the offer after members backed it in an indicative ballot.

A Cafcass spokesperson said: “The pay award of 4.43% represents the best outcome achievable within this year’s pay guidance, and is the minimum award received by all employees. When the 4.43% increase is considered alongside adjustments already made in line with contractual pay progression and increases in the national living wage, some staff received higher percentage awards than this.”

For Napo, general secretary Ian Lawrence said the “decisive view from members” was that the pay deal agreed was the best that could be achieved.

Variable pay deals for different social work groups

The settlement means that all three groups of public sector social workers in England received different pay settlements in 2024-25. The best deal – a 5.5% increase in pay – was given to NHS practitioners, while the majority of council practitioners were granted rises of £1,290 – £1,491 or £1,575 in London – equivalent to a 3-4% bump on their salaries.

That followed several years in which pay rises at Cafcass had lagged those for local authority practitioners, prompting concerns from management and unions alike about the organisation becoming less competitive on social work pay compared with councils.

Lawrence said this was still an issue and that Napo would be calling for it to be addressed through increased investment for Cafcass.

Union looking to tackle workloads

He added that the union’s other priorities for the forthcoming year included tackling workloads among Cafcass practitioners.

Social work caseloads at Cafcass fell from 2022-24, however, a Napo survey last year found practitioners were struggling with workloads, with the majority frequently working more than their contracted hours.

Lawrence said: “We want to work with management to review the national picture on workloads and how that manifests regionally. I welcome the news that there have been some reductions in the quantum of cases on Cafcass’s books.

“But if there’s been a reduction, what steps are management planning to take to ease the burden on staff who, in some areas, are still reporting a critical position around workloads?”

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The government has budgeted for a 2.8% rise in NHS salaries in England next year.

The money would cover both the headline pay rise for staff on Agenda for Change (AfC) contracts – including social workers and social care staff employed by NHS trusts – and planned changes to the AfC pay structure.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced the plan in its submission to the independent NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB).

Based on the DHSC’s evidence and that of the Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Executive, NHS employers, trade unions and others, the NHSPRB will make recommendations for AfC staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2025-26.

It will then be up to the three governments to accept or amend these in relation to their countries’ staff.

5.5% rise this year for NHS staff

Shortly after taking power in July 2024, the Labour government accepted the NHSPRB’s recommendations of a 5.5% rise for AfC staff in relation to workers England in 2024-25.

The Welsh Government subsequently followed suit in relation to staff in Wales.

This meant that NHS social workers in England and Wales were given a larger pay rise this year than counterparts in most local authorities, who received increases of 3-4%.

Council concerns over social work pay differences

This prompted concerns from the Local Government Association (LGA) that councils were losing ground to the NHS in terms of social worker pay competitiveness.

However, in Northern Ireland, where statutory social workers generally are employed by the NHS, no deal has been done because the region’s Department of Health says it cannot afford to deliver the NHSPRB’s recommendations.

The DHSC’s submission to the review body would, if implemented, entail a headline salary rise for NHS staff of less than 2.8% in 2025-26.

The remaining budget would be spent on amending the AfC pay structure, including to tackle the relatively small differences between some pay bands, which the NHSPRB has said creates disincentives for staff to seek promotion.

Prospect of real-terms pay cut

With the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting an average rate of inflation of 2.6%, this would mean that many staff would likely see a real-terms pay cut or freeze.

In justifying its submission, the DHSC said it faced an “extremely challenging fiscal position”, in which the AfC pay rise would need to be considered alongside other priorities.

While NHS England’s budget is due to rise from £182.8bn this year to £193bn in 2025-26, a cash increase of 5.6%, the DHSC said the health service needed to boost productivity and efficiency to achieve the government’s targets around cutting waiting times.

Should the NHSPRB recommend a higher increase than that budgeted for by the department, the DHSC said it would need to consider “difficult trade-offs” in relation to NHS budgets.

‘Not what NHS workers wanted to hear’

The proposals were criticised by UNISON, whose head of health, Helga Pile, said they were “not what NHS workers wanted to hear”.

“Staff are crucial in turning around the fortunes of the NHS,” she added. “Improving performance is a key government pledge, but the pay rise proposed is barely above the cost of living.”

Social workers are most likely to hold the government responsible for the 2024-25 pay settlement, a Community Care poll has found.

This year’s local government pay deal was finalised in October, after UNISON failed to secure a sufficient mandate to take industrial action.

Backdated to April, the pay rise will give council staff outside London either £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, with slightly higher amounts for London-based staff.

The settlement is worth 3-4% for social workers and stands above the current rate of inflation in the UK, which has ranged between 1.7% and 2.3% since April.

However, this is lower than the deal received by many other public sector workers, including NHS social workers.

The government most responsible for pay deal

In previous years, some social workers have expressed disappointment towards unions for what they saw as uncoordinated and strung-out negotiations with unfavourable results. 

In 2023, there was an eight-month dispute before employers’ original pay offer, worth 4-6% for social workers, was accepted.

However, this year, the government was most likely to be viewed as responsible for the outcome of pay negotiations, being selected by 41% of respondents to our poll, which received 1,200 votes.

Next in line were individual staff “for not fighting hard enough” (23%), while 19% blamed union leaders for the pay deal and 9% pointed the finger at employers.

Memberships at risk of cancellation

Still, many practitioners in the comments were contemplating leaving their unions, with some saying that they did not receive their strike ballot papers.

“I am considering cancelling, I have NOT been sent ballot papers! I also don’t understand why the pay negotiations take so long,” said Nan.

“We were not given the opportunity to vote for better pay. [My union] needs to up its game to support its members [and] act in a timely manner!”

Another practitioner said they had to call their union twice to receive their ballot.

Mr D Das also attested that three of his colleagues had not received a ballot either.

“To be fair, they wanted a pay rise but were apathetic [about] contacting their union to get a ballot paper,” he added. “Another colleague didn’t receive a ballot paper, but felt strongly enough to [ask for] one from his union.”

David said he had just cancelled his membership with his union after 20 years because of the pay deal.

“I just fail to see what benefit they provide now and £270 is a lot of money for no real representation. Nationally, they’re not nearly visible enough for local government workers, and years of inadequate pay rises are a consequence.”

Phil Dolbear echoed this: “It’s the same every year. I’ve cancelled my union subscription. There’s no point in paying a monthly fee to a toothless organisation that can’t protect its members or negotiate a fair and realistic deal.”

‘Ballot arrangements should be made sooner’

Kye admitted feeling “failed by the unions”, adding that strike ballots should have been carried out sooner so families didn’t have to struggle to make ends meet before the Christmas period. 

“UNISON, GMB and Unite should be asking for the 2025-26 pay offer months before it is due to be implemented in April.”

Geoff Wode also asked for members to be balloted in April, rather than “when winter and Christmas is coming and the money is seven months overdue”.

“It seems too convenient that for the past three years [that] pay deals are accepted just before Christmas, when people are unlikely to vote for strike action and associate having a backdated payment in their November pay as a positive,” added Chris.

Geoff argued that being represented by three different unions diluted their power.

“The unions split into three doesn’t help clearly,” he said. “[They] don’t work together and their communication with their members is terrible.”

‘It is on members, not unions’

Others, however, believed the unions are only as strong as their members.

“How can people blame the unions? They need the members to agree to “strike” before they can take further action, we do nothing about it and expect change,” said one practitioner. 

Lin Newton blamed unions being “weak” to their members’ inactivity.

“Leaving [makes] you even more vulnerable to exploitation,” she added.

Samantha Davies also criticised those who “moan, but do not stick together”.

“Workers complain and have the chance to vote against what employers offer, then end up not voting and seeing it through,” she said. “People do not stand together anymore.”

Another urged those considering to leave their union to think twice.

“How does this help? YOU are the union. If you want an effective union, join it, lobby your colleagues to join it and then vote to strike. How does doing nothing solve the problem?”

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This year’s local government pay deal has been agreed after the biggest union failed to gain a sufficient mandate to take effective strike action.

UNISON said it had agreed to employers’ pay offer to staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2024-25 because of a relatively low turnout in its ballot for industrial action.

GMB members have already backed the deal, meaning there is sufficient union support for the deal to be implemented.

The third union, Unite, also balloted for industrial action and said it would carry out localised walkouts in areas where it had obtained a mandate to strike, however, this will not stop the deal going through.

This year’s pay deal

As a result, this year’s salary increase – backdated to April 2024 – will be in council staff’s pay packets next month or as soon as possible thereafter. The deal amounts to pay rises of:

• £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff outside of London.
• £1,491 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff in outer London.
• £1,575 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff in inner London.

The deal applies to staff working in councils covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) – the vast majority of authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The settlement is worth 3-4% for social workers, similar to the deal received by practitioners in Scotland, and above the rate of inflation in the UK, which has ranged between 1.7% and 2.3% since April of this year according to the government’s preferred consumer prices index (CPI) measured.

However, it is less than the 5.5% received by NHS social workers in England and Wales.

‘Not enough voted in strike ballot’

UNISON head of local government Mike Short said: “Not enough workers voted in the recent strike ballot, so UNISON has accepted an increase of £1,290 for all relevant staff in schools and local government.”

Under the law, trade unions need half of eligible members to take part in an industrial action ballot, with a majority of those turning out voting in favour, to secure a mandate to strike for a given employer.

Though UNISON, nationally, has not published the results of the ballot, which took place from 4 September to 16 October 2024, its Sandwell General branch reported that, in England and Wales, 80% of those voting to take action, but on a turnout of just 29%.

Of the 4,093 employers for which ballots were run, a total which includes local authorities and schools, the 50% threshold was reached in 682 – though UNISON has declined to take industrial action in these areas.

‘Priority to get money in wage packets’

Short added: “The pay award will be backdated to April this year. The priority will be to ensure the money goes into everyone’s wage packets as soon as possible. The amount will be adjusted accordingly for workers on part-time and term-time contracts.”

GMB members voted in favour of the pay offer in July.

Its national secretary, Rachel Harrison said: “This pay deal is welcome and must now appear in our local government and school members’ pay packets as soon as possible – including back pay.”

Looking towards 2025-26 pay deal

She added: “GMB is now looking forward to next year and will be consulting members on pay aspirations for 2025-26. We will be lobbying for this to be fully funded pay offer for schools and local government workers.”

Unite said that it had secured a mandate to strike in some areas, and would take action in these localities.

“Local government workers need a fair pay rise, after years of pay freezes and below inflation increases,” said its general secretary, Sharon Graham. “Where Unite members are prepared to stand up and take industrial action, the union will have their backs every step of the way.”

The result means that, for the second year running, unions, collectively, have accepted employers’ original pay offer after balloting for industrial action in protest against it.

A spokesperson for the national employers said: “We are pleased agreement has been reached so that employees can receive their long-awaited pay increase.”

The latest local government pay offer for Scotland will come into force despite the country’s biggest union for council staff planning strike action in protest against it later this month.

The 32 council leaders, through their representative body COSLA, have agreed to implement the increase – worth 67p an hour or 3.6%, whichever is higher – based on the agreement of two of the three unions, the GMB and Unite.

However, UNISON members have overwhelmingly rejected the offer. This week, the union said it would hold a two-week strike later this month for school and early years centre staff working for Perth and Kinross Council, the area that includes first minister John Swinney’s constituency.

UNISON has particularly criticised the fact that the offer, which is worth an average of 4.27% for council staff in Scotland, is less than the 5-6% given to large numbers of public sector workers across the UK.

‘A strong settlement for employees’

But COSLA, which increased its previous offer of 3.2% with the help of Scottish Government cash, said that councils could not afford any more. It has also highlighted that the deal is worth more than the offer of £1,290, or 2.5%, whichever is higher, made to council staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“The [Scottish Joint Council for Local Government Employees] pay award of 3.6% or £0.67 (whichever is higher)…offers a fair, above inflation and strong settlement for all of our employees,” said COSLA resources spokesperson, Katie Hagmann. “It is at the absolute limit of affordability in the extremely challenging financial context we face.”

She said the decision to implement the deal, which will be backdated to April 2024, had been influenced by representations from Unite and GMB.

“Leaders have fully considered the views of our three trade unions, including the concerns expressed by GMB and Unite about the cost of living and financial pressures which continue to affect many across our workforce, and their desire for the offer to be implemented as soon as possible,” Hagmann added.

‘Staff forced to strike’

However, UNISON Perth and Kinross branch secretary Stuart Hope said: “A fair pay deal should have been in place from 1 April, but six months later it’s still not been agreed.

Instead, the employer has imposed a wage rise rejected by a majority of the workers UNISON represents. Yet again local government staff are being forced to strike to simply get fair pay.”

The two-week strike starts on 21 October and UNISON said it would lead to the closure of schools and early centres in Perth and Kinross.

COSLA said councils would implement the pay offer, and pay staff backpay from April 2024, in line with their local payroll processes.

Councils are losing ground to the NHS in the competition for social workers because of their different pay setting arrangements, the Local Government Association has warned.

NHS social workers in England have received a 5.5% rise in 2024-25, compared with an offer of roughly 3-4% for counterparts in the majority of local authorities, a proposal that has prompted ballots for strike action by two of the three unions representing staff.

While pay settlements for NHS and council practitioners were more similar in 2023-24, the LGA said the disparity this year was indicative of local government’s deteriorating competitiveness on salary compared with the health service.

Pay setting disparities

It attributed this to the different ways in which pay is set in the two sectors.

In the NHS, as in many other parts of the public sector, ministers set annual salary increases based on recommendations from independent pay review bodies and generally provide employers with the budget to deliver these.

In contrast, council pay, in most areas, is set by collective bargaining between employer and union representatives, with settlements limited by local government budgets and the pressure on authorities to respond to increases in the national living wage (NLW).

National Living Wage pressures

With the national wage floor having risen by roughly 10% in each of the past two years, councils have had to concentrate rises on the lowest paid, who earn just above the NLW, leaving less for those higher up the salary scale, including social workers.

The situation is particularly problematic in social work because the profession has consistently been cited by authorities as their biggest recruitment and retention challenge.

“With two of the nationally recognised trade unions announcing formal ballots for industrial action in response to the national employers’ offer, it is imperative that decisions made regarding funding for one group of public sector workers who are subject to pay review bodies are not at the expense of another group whose pay is set through collective bargaining,” said the association.

Ironically, the LGA’s argument echoes one made in the past by Cafcass, about the inferior pay settlements it has been able to give staff compared with local authorities because of different pay setting arrangements.

The LGA made the comments in a submission to the Treasury designed to influence next month’s Budget – which will set government funding levels for 2025-26 – and the 2025 spending review, which is expected to set spending limits for the subsequent three years.

High social worker vacancy and turnover rates 

The LGA’s report highlighted the well-documented challenges councils face in recruiting and retaining children’s social workers, with the full-time equivalent vacancy rate registering 18.9% as of September 2023, and the turnover rate hitting 15.9% in 2022-23.

The LGA also cited social workers’ reported increases in stress and workload levels, as measured by the Department for Education’s longitudinal survey of practitioners in children’s services.

To tackle these issues, the association urged ministers to invest more in the workforce, specifically by:

• Resourcing councils to expand administrative support, supervision capacity and training for children’s social workers.
• Funding training programmes and bursaries to encourage people from other professions to retrain as social workers.
• Spending £500,000 to help 200 former practitioners return to social work, repeating a call the LGA made last year.

The government has signalled that the Budget will be highly challenging for both taxpayers and public services because of the state of the nation’s finances.

Councils’ mounting funding gap driven by social care, says LGA

But, citing data it had released previously, the LGA said councils needed an additional £4.7bn, including £3.4bn for social care, in 2025-26, compared with 2024-25, to maintain services at current levels. In 2026-27, they would need an extra £8.9bn, including £6.3bn for social care, compared with 2024-25, the association claimed.

The money would be needed to manage increased placement costs for looked-after children, rising demand for, and costs of, adult social care services, rises in the NLW and mounting expenditure on special educational needs and disability services.

However, on current projections, increased income for councils would not be sufficient to keep pace with these pressures, leaving authorities with a funding gap of £2.3bn in 2025-26 and £3.9bn in 2026-27, the LGA claimed.

The association said this meant that councils needed “a significant and sustained increase in overall funding”.

UNISON members are being asked to vote on whether to take action over this year’s local government pay offer for staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The union opened a ballot of over 360,000 members today by reiterating its call for employers to return to the negotiating table with an improved offer. However, council leaders have held firm that their offer will not be enhanced.

While the GMB has accepted the deal, the third union, Unite, is, like UNISON, balloting its members on industrial action.

UNISON members will be balloted across more than 4,000 local authorities and schools. For each employer, half of relevant members need to take part in the ballot, with a majority voting in favour, for the union to have a mandate to strike in that organisation.

As a result, it is likely that the union will win mandates in some organisations, but not others.

What local government pay offer is worth

The proposed deal is worth:

• £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff working outside of London.
• £1,491 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for workers in outer London.
• £1,575 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for those working in inner London.

For social workers, the deal is worth about 3-4%.

Since the offer was made in May, superior deals have been agreed with a host of other public sector workers, including NHS workers, teachers, police officers and staff in the armed forces.

There is also a more generous offer on the table for council staff in Scotland, though UNISON has rejected this and looks set to embark on strike action.

Employers rebuff call for improved deal

In reference to the pay round for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, UNISON head of local government Mike Short said: “Local government finances are in a dire state, but that doesn’t mean staff should be denied a fair pay rise after 14 years of austerity and low wages. Employers still have time to come back with a better offer.”

He also urged central government “to assist employers by providing stable, long-term funding settlements that allow councils and schools to retain expert staff and protect the vital services on which our communities rely”.

In response, a spokesperson for employers said: “The national employers have reaffirmed the offer as full and final as it is at the limit of most councils’ level of affordability.”

Local government employers have rebuffed union calls to increase their pay offer to staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for 2024-25.

UNISON, Unite and the GMB wrote to employers urging “open meaningful pay talks” and an improved offer in the light of superior pay settlements handed out to other public sector workers by the government.

However, in response, the employers’ side reiterated their position that their offer – a rise of £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff working outside of London, with those in the capital receiving rises of £1,491, £1,575 or 2.5% – was “full and final”.

Better pay deals for other public sector staff

Last month, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that she had accepted recommendations from independent pay review bodies in relation to workers including NHS workers, teachers, police officers and staff in the armed forces.

These were worth 5-6%, with NHS staff – including social workers – given a 5.5% hike for 2024-25.

These deals are worth significantly more on average than the offer for council staff, with only the lowest-paid local authority workers due to receive a comparable percentage rise to their public sector counterparts.

In response to council employers’ offer, UNISON and Unite have decided to ballot their members on taking industrial action, with voting due to begin at the end of this month and early September. The GMB has accepted the proposal.

However, following Reeves’s announcement on public sector pay, leaders from all three unions – Clare Keough for Unite, Sharon Wilde for the GMB and Mike Short for UNISON – wrote to council employers seeking fresh dialogue on the 2024-25 settlement.

Council workers ‘need adequate pay rise too’

“It is clear that this government has recognised that the public sector workers need an adequate pay rise and a pay rise that recognises that public sector pay has fallen, over many years, so far behind the cost of living,” they wrote. “Local government workers need an adequate pay rise too.

“The problems of poverty, morale, recruitment and retention continue to affect local government staff and this urgently needs addressing.”

However, in a letter in response, employers’ secretary Naomi Cooke pointed out that the government had not given councils any more money to increase pay.

“Therefore, the national employers are unable to accede to your request and must again reaffirm the offer made on 16 May as full and final,” she wrote.

“The offer, as we explained at the time, will be difficult to fund in a number of local authorities and anything beyond it would take many more authorities well past their level of affordability.”

She said the employers would continue to make representations to the UK and devolved governments for more funding and urged UNISON and Unite to rethink their strike ballots and join the GMB in agreeing to the offer “so that employees can receive their pay award”.

A second union will ballot members on taking strike action over this year’s pay offer for local government staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Unite has joined UNISON in asking members whether they are prepared to walk out this autumn and winter over employers’ offer of a rise of £1,290 or 2.5%, whichever is higher, for staff working outside of London.

Because of London weighting, those working in the capital’s outer boroughs are being offered £1,491, and staff in inner London £1,575, instead of the £1,290. The proposed settlement is worth 3-4% for social workers.

Employers have described the offer as “full and final”, however, only members of the GMB voted to accept it, while the deal cannot be agreed unless two unions – including UNISON – accept it.

Industrial action ballots

Earlier this month, UNISON – the union with the biggest social work membership in the UK – announced it would ballot members from 4 September to 16 October. Unite’s vote will run from the end of August to mid-October.

To obtain a mandate to strike, half of members must vote, with a majority voting in favour. UNISON has said that it is balloting employers separately, meaning it could obtain mandates in relation to some councils but not others.

The ballots set the scene for a winter of industrial action and another late resolution to the pay settlement for negotiating body the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, which covers the vast majority of authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Last year’s deal was agreed in November 2023, with employers having not improved their initial offer despite a protracted dispute.

Superior pay deals for other public sector staff

The prospects for a deal may have become more remote this week after the government agreed pay deals of 5-6% for several other public sector workers, including NHS staff, teachers, prison officers and the police, with even more for junior doctors.

This is significantly more, in percentage terms, than what is on offer for all but the lowest-paid council staff.

It also means that social workers in the NHS are set to receive significantly higher pay rises than their counterparts in local government.

The situation prompted significant concern from the British Association of Social Workers and the Social Workers Union.

Social workers ‘persistently undervalued’

In a joint statement, they said: “We acknowledge the positive announcement from the chancellor [Rachel Reeves] regarding public sector pay increases in England, including for social workers employed in the NHS.

“Despite this statement, the chancellor has failed to give any assurances to public sector workers employed and paid by local authorities, including the majority of the social worker workforce, who have suffered the worst pay growth compared to other public sector professions since 2010-11.

“While we recognise that funding for most public sector social workers is managed by local authorities, the exclusion of social workers from this pay increase sends a discouraging message. Social workers are essential frontline workers who provide vital services, and their exclusion from the pay rise is a stark reminder of the persistent undervaluation of their profession.”

Parameters set for Cafcass pay deal

Meanwhile, the government has also set the parameters for the 2024-25 pay deal for Cafcass practitioners. As a government agency, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), its staff are bound by the annual civil service pay remit, which was published this week.

Under this, government departments may make average pay awards of 5% for their staff and those working in the agencies they oversee.

This means that, should the MoJ make more generous settlements for other agencies, there would be less than 5% of available for Cafcass staff – and vice versa.

Also, the 5% must cover all increases in salary, not just the annual pay settlement, meaning the latter would generally be less than this headline figure.