Change in number of case holders, number of cases, and average caseload in children's social care, since 2017

A line chart from the Institute for Government showing change in number of case holders, number of cases, and average caseload in children's social care, since 2017, where average caseload has been declining pretty steadily since 2017 and have now reached an all-time low of 15.4 cases per case holder, down from 17.7 in 2017. In 2024, for the first time, a reduction in the total number of cases, not growth in the number of staff holding cases, drove the decline in average caseloads.

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Source: Institute for Government analysis of DfE, ‘Children’s social work workforce', 2017–2024.Notes: 'Case holders' here refers to FTE social workers recorded as holding cases, which, under DfE definitions, is different from staff in case holder roles. Cases can be held by those not in case holder roles. Figures are as at 30 September in each year. Analysis covers England only.Get the dataEmbed Download image

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