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Social workers’ caseloads do not align with the average calculated by the Department for Education, a Community Care poll has found.
Based on submissions from councils, the DfE calculated that, in September 2024, the average caseload for children’s social workers in England was 15.4.
This was down from 16.0 twelve months earlier and 16.6 in 2022.
Social workers’ caseloads ‘well above’ DfE calculations
However, social workers have rejected the DfE’s calculations.
A Community Care poll with almost 600 votes found that the department’s average was “well below” 78% of respondents’ caseloads.
Only 15% said it was in line with their experience.
‘I have never had a caseload as low as 15’
Social workers commenting on the related article also dismissed the figure, deeming it “misleading”.
“Numbers of children allocated to social workers is very misleading,” said Stella Potente. “How many families? What is the intensity of the work? How many of the families are in court proceedings? How many require parenting assessments?”
Many admitted they never had a caseload of 15 cases, with Linsey Parker calling the number “a pipe dream”.
“If you double it, and add the extra hours outside working hours, it would be more realistic. Social workers just keep calm and carry on until they mentally can’t,” she said.
Jemma added: “I have never had a caseload as low as 15, and still don’t. I am also confused as to why the focus is on the number of cases and does not factor in the complexity. Social work should not be based on numbers and figures.”
Another practitioner, Roisin, who qualified in 2017, said she had been allocated 20 cases in her assessed and supported year in employment – a number that has not decreased since.
“[I have had] between 20-25 looked-after children cases. It’s not easy maintaining complex cases and families on a long-term basis with those numbers.”
‘Figure includes non-case-holding practitioners’
One social worker, Kelly, noted that the figure failed to be “a true reflection” of the reality because they included cases held by managers, who would generally be responsible for far fewer children than frontline practitioners, depressing the average.
Similarly, Guli said the DfE’s average was “artificially low” because social workers were, in practice, supporting unallocated siblings of children on their caseloads.
“The ultimate responsibility for safeguarding all these unallocated children falls on your unpaid and unrecognised overtime,” they added.
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Clearly the greater majority of Social Workers consider themselves overwhelmed by the expectations of their roles. This has been the case for many, many years and nothing really has been done to address this
Exploitation of Social Workers when exploitation is contrary to the values of the profession. Managers should be ashamed yet they persist with this
This is so true they keep on allocating and allocating even though they know you are not able to manage the cases, families, work whatever. It’s wrong
The exploitation of social workers is deeply concerning. It is not just the number of cases they are assigned but the sheer workload involved in each one. Additionally, when colleagues are absent, managers often expect social workers to take on their cases temporarily, without these being formally recorded in their caseload or workload numbers. This does not fall under duty work, which is already overstretched.
Social workers frequently work beyond their contracted hours, including early mornings and weekends, to keep up with the demands of the role. Yet, there is an increasing expectation from management that staying beyond 5 PM is mandatory, even for those who already work well past this time daily. One manager even stated that working late is both “expected” and “required.” This level of pressure and disregard for work-life balance is unsustainable and raises serious ethical and professional concerns.
Ultimately, this systemic exploitation leaves social workers without a meaningful work-life balance and borders on economic coercion. It is unacceptable that those who dedicate themselves to safeguarding others are themselves placed in such untenable conditions.