The representation of Black social workers in the children’s services workforce in English councils halves between the front line and management, Department for Education (DfE) data has shown.
There is also a drop-off in the proportion of Asian practitioners and those from mixed or multiple ethnic groups at senior levels, compared with the front line, according to the figures, which date from September 2024.
By contrast, the proportion of white social workers increases with seniority, revealed the data, which has been published on the DfE’s children’s social care dashboard.
Chief social worker Isabelle Trowler said the figures showed action needed to be taken to ensure better representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff at senior level, which remained “very very white”.
Fall in Black representation at senior levels
The proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in the children’s social work workforce in English councils (26.2%) is higher than in the general population (19%).
This is driven by the particularly high representation of Black staff, who accounted for 15.2% of children’s social workers, as of September 2024, compared with 4.2% of the population.
However, while Black staff accounted for 20.5% of case holders – which encompasses those in frontline roles who are not senior practitioners – this fell to 13.1% among senior social workers and 10.2% among managers.
Asian and mixed-heritage staff’s representation
Among Asian and mixed-heritage staff, there was a similar, though smaller-scale, drop-off. Asian staff accounted for 6.5% of the whole workforce, 6.9% of case holders, 6.3% of senior practitioners and 5.3% of managers, while mixed-heritage social workers were 3.6% of the workforce, 4% of case holders, 3.7% of senior practitioners and 3% of managers.
White staff exhibited the opposite trend, accounting for 67.7% of case holders, 75.9% of senior practitioners and 80.7% of managers.
The figures do not include the director of children’s services (DCS) role, 90% of whose postholders were white as of 2024, according to data from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.
Senior leadership is ‘very very white’
Trowler addressed the issue in the opening session of Social Work Week, Social Work England’s annual programme of online events, which , this year, runs from 17-21 March 2025.
Isabelle Trowler, the chief social worker for children and families
“We have a really diverse junior part of our workforce, but we know that the leadership, particularly senior leadership, is very very white. And we have to do something about this.”
Trowler also referenced the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s recent report on race in child protection. This found that the race and ethnicity of children was often not recognised, appropriately explored or understood by practitioners, resulting in them not having a full understanding of children’s lived experience and the vulnerabilities they faced.
Workforce diversity ‘not translating into addressing of inequality’
“Even though we have this representation at junior levels of the workforce, that isn’t translating into addressing inequality in practice,” she added.
“Good representation at junior levels is absolutely necessary, but is not sufficient in seeing systemic shifts in the way we are working alongside families and understanding their experience and what they need from the state.”
A key initiatives to tackle racial inequalities in the social work workforce is the social care workforce race equality standard (SC-WRES).
Workforce race equality standard reveals inequalities
Under this, councils collect data on nine metrics measuring the experiences of their Black, Asian and minority ethnic social care staff against those of white counterparts, and then submit this to Skills for Care. They are also expected to draw up action plans to address the findings.
Data from the 2023 SC-WRES revealed that, compared with white staff, Black, Asian and minority ethnic social care workers had, in the previous 12 months, been:
- half as likely to be appointed to a job from a shortlisting;
- 40% more likely to enter formal disciplinary processes;
- more than twice as likely, as a regulated professional, to enter fitness to practise processes;
- 20% more likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse from people who use social care, relatives or the public;
- 30% more likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse from a colleague and 90% more likely to have experienced this from a manager;
- 10% more likely to leave their organisation.
More than half of councils in England are now signed up to the SC-WRES. However, unlike its NHS counterpart, the scheme receives no government funding, meaning it is resourced by Skills for Care and participating authorities.
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OMG – talk about stating the obvious… 🙄 Is this the conclusion you reach after 14 years as ‘Chief Social Worker’…? I’m embarrassed for her. 😬
How tone deaf is this blog – https://childrenssocialcare.blog.gov.uk/2025/03/17/a-message-of-thanks-from-isabelle-trowler-cbe-chief-social-worker-for-children-and-families-2/? Why the sudden charm offensive from Trowler? Very interesting who she gravitates towards. Sadly it all seems a bit hollow.
Maybe she thinks she’s found a stepping stone to credibility…
Elites blathering on about creating more elites does nothing to improve the experience of “minority” staff. What I want is to be treated with an awareness of my needs as a practitioner. I don’t want bullying managers, I don’t want to be supervised by a bureaucratic mind, I don’t want to be told it’s my fault I might not be brilliant, I don’t want a caseload I barely know anything about from my computer screen, I don’t want to be made to feel guilty because sometimes I do not cope well and shed a few tears in frustration and desperation. I’ve had these experiences from while and black managers. What I want is a manager who isn’t themselves worn down by a system that measures value based on “ambition” and “promotion”. Ms Trowler and her cohort may as well be living on Jupiter given how little meaningful interaction that have with us bottom feeders. So I for one don’t really care how many non-white managers she thinks would salve her conscience. All I want is a new mind set that values me and my colleagues, that strives to make our work manageable and meaningful. I want managers who actually care about social work as opposed to budgets. I want managers who actually care about social workers rather than regarding us as a burden to be kept and eye on. And not that it should matter but I am a black social worker. And female. And a social worker for 11 years.
Well said Cynthia
That you have to qualify what you so accurately describe our experiences says all that needs to be said about the performative virtue signalling that has ruined social worker for all of us. What would really improve if Trowler was succeeded by a “minority” manager? Answer nothing because the system in which her kind dominates is never about social workers. It’s a self affirming club with nothing tangible achieved. Unless that changes, unless they own how they have ruined social work for us it’s all just noise.
Very well Said.
100%🎯
Could not have put it any better.
On point. I am a black social worker for 18 years. I feel the same way.
Absolutely Cynthia well done. To be listened to and opinions valued regardless of your gender or ethnicity. To be greatly supported when needed showing empathy, honesty and transparency, as in the social work values.
SPOT ON CYNTHIA!
I am fed up with Individuals like Ms Trowler trying to make herself look good. I worked for a Local Authority for years, where many workers from the Black and Asian community were overlooked , senior and manager jobs were given to white coleagues with less than 3 years experience in comparison to those of us having 5 and above. Its still happens now, jumped up managers with less than 5 years speaking to me like Im something under their feet. REALLY
Look at bringing back Race and Culture into Social Work studies, to help those workers whi have not got a clue and think their entitled after 2 years to manage me with over 26 years under my belt.
🎯
This is an interesting conversation, I am a social work assistant and I see this in my workplace. We recently had an amazing black lady as a team leader she was locum seeing her operate made me consider completing a social work degree .when her contract time was up and could of been renewed another senior from another team was given the role she was a white woman. All the team leaders in my team are white and mostly from a privileged background .
Exactly 😵
No real change 😟
It’s a constant battle, I have been qualified for nearly 30-years and I have only came across one Black COE of Children’s Services, and the majority of the time the media complained the amount of money he was earning, and did not play umbrage too all the positive work that he completed for the Local Authority. I am tired, but will continue the fight as a Black Social Worker, striving the best for all children and young people whom I serve. I am continually irritated by individuals who think they know what is best. I am sick of hearing so called do gooders who will NEVER be able to walk in my shoes, or the shoes of my Black Social Work partners.
The reality is that meaningful change will not occur unless there is a fundamental shift in mindset within British culture.
In Social Work, I do not see colour; I see the importance of achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
Regrettably, many council leaders fail to appreciate the broader picture. There remains a prevailing belief that only white individuals — by virtue of their lived experiences and qualifications — are justified and entitled to hold senior positions. People of colour hold lived experiences and qualifications without the opportunity to progress.
This issue is not confined to Social Work; it is pervasive across all sectors and industries. Individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds are frequently deemed unsuitable for leadership roles, often based on subjective notions of “fit.”
I am proud to have entered the profession of Social Work because I genuinely care. Irrespective of a family’s ethnicity, my primary goal is to ensure that children are safe, able to thrive, and supported in their development. I am committed to empowering families to prioritise their children’s well-being so they can succeed.
As for whether there will be change at the senior management level — I remain sceptical. Having worked in Social Care for over 30 years, I have seen little progress for professionals of colour.
Nonetheless, we will continue to give our best and remain dedicated to the children, families, and communities we serve.
CC reported on this 5 years ago. Has Trowler only just got the memo?
https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2020/07/17/promote-anti-racist-culture-social-work/
Good old virtue signalling—the very system that claims to stand against oppression – is itself institutionalised by racism.
Institutionalised by racism and authoritarianism. The inseparable pillars of the social work “Leader” which is why unless bothe are eradicated and manager of colour in said position will adapt to authoritarianism while proclaiming to tackle racism. As had been said already, believe in those who believe in social work and social workers, never trust the self defined ‘champion’. It normally signals a careerist.
White noise, no body cares, if only social work practiced per its values. Sadly nothing will change.
I have worked in senior leadership for several years with the WRES, action plans and even tickbox consultation sessions with a black ex lecturer where i had to frequently explain the issues to majority white seniors. It at least gave them a sense they were doing something meaningful….and off course many hours counted of global majority staff performing emotional labour at the expense of our allies unable to unlearn or share the privilege they hold. It has been exhausting. I feel overlooked, ignored and censored. I feel shot down and dismissed, again a person of colour excluded with polite reasons why. I am happy to have been a confidant for many staff and to have pushed for and created ripples of change. But some of the worst dangerous Behaviours I have experienced have been those other senior leaders who act as allies without any real empathy. Lipservice continues to insult us and our CSW does likewise.
There are racists in practice, there are racists in local authorities, there are racist councilors and politicians. But even articles like this remind that in order for the most skilled, passionate and non-judgmental practitioners to stay on the frontline, they have to remain the lowest paid (of the social workers). The corporate management structure should be void – making decisions about people who you have never met and spent time with is insane. Yet in all the work I have done (local authority, charity, voluntary, education) I see so many wrong decisions because the decision makers are detached and removed from the service users and practitioners are ignored. Pay frontline staff (doing the actual work) more and some of these issues go away. Not everyone who goes into social work wants to manage other social workers and they shouldn’t be financially punished for that. I mean I have worked with managers who barely even speak to their own team, who read case notes and feel that is enough to decide the fate of families, whose management skills are non-existent and who are paid over double the salary of the people picking up their slack.
Very true. Let focus on our young children and lovely family and our reward will be paid from heaven.
Nothing can ever change if everything that doesn’t conform to one’s own “lived experience” is attacked with cynicism and disdain. Whatever some might convince themselves to be otherwise objective truths exist. Senior and executive management is a closed shop only occasionally pulled ajar to admit like-minded affirmers. That is as much a reason for it’s whiteness as is conscious racism. Being a “person of colour”, a term I despise for stripping me of my blackness, isn’t an automatic signal of an empathetic person relentlessly pursuing equality and justice. Ideology is what matters, political committment is what matters, strength to acknowledge weakness is what matters. I’ve had brilliant white managers and appallingly authoritarian and vindictive black supervisors. Less identity hierichies and more solidarity is what I value. Social work is on a death march which no amount of black or asian careerists can rescue it from. One of the most staunch champions of SWE I know is a black manager. Make of that what you will. Time all of us reclaimed our power rather than invest our expectation on elitist Empire medal chasers.
Only a manager who values the efforts of individual social workers over “service” and “production” gets my attention. That’s more important to me than a head count of ‘ethnicities’.
Would Isabelle Trowler ever describe services as “very very black?” I think not, and if not, why is she using it to describe this service, and implying that there is something inherently wrong with white people working at a senior level. I’m afraid she lost the argument for me when she used this description. Has DEI infiltrated social work, and if so, the sooner we get rid of it, the better. Discrimination is discrimination whether it’s positive or negative, and has no place in social work or our wider society. The sooner Isabelle Trowler realises that, the better.
🤣🤣🤣 No shxx, Sherlock!
This society cannot have have a proper debate about whether there is value in positive discrimination. It has gone too far in some LAs where excellent staff are systematically not getting senior jobs if they are not from a BAME background. I have seen services going from bad to worse because colour was privileged over skills at appointment stage. As a locum, if I don’t like it, I move on. But since there are no real metrics to measure one’s performance, the equality/inclusion agenda is marching blindly, regardless of the impact on the service.
If the data presented here is correct than the march isn’t in the direction you suggest. As for promotion or appointment being made on the basis of ideology rather than merit I suggest that merit plays little to no part and more importantly has rarely been the main consideration. I have been approached several times to “apply” for posts above my grade with the slight wink that the outcome is already in my favour. I have declined each time not because I’m virtuous but because I rather witness corruption from the outside than be a part of perpetuating it. Every social worker will have stories about inappropriate appointments and promotions and croynism.
Wow, it’s very sad to your story… sounds like some LAs lacks integrity. I’ve raised concerns with DfE in a focus group about taking a deep look at the leadership because sometime it ain’t the frontline needing fixing but rather the leadership it self needs measured reflection.