Social work education

Explore data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)that describes students enrolling onto social work courses and see how these students progress into joining the adult social care workforce as social workers.  

  • Published: March 2023 (data from 2021/22) 
  • Last updated: April 2023 
  • Next update due: pending (data from 2022/23 and 2023/24) 

Please note: The release of the next report has been postponed, with a new publication date yet to be confirmed. This delay is due to late receipt of external datasets and the need for additional checks before publication.

Download full report 

Explore the data

Use the tabs to explore key workforce trends, including employment overview, recruitment and retention, and demographics.

The information (i) button provides useful notes about the data, while the Download PowerPoint button lets you save a screenshot of the visualisation for use in your own presentations. Each tab also includes a glossary for reference.

Beneath the visualisation, you’ll find links to download the full dataset and learn more about our methodology.

 

Read the report

PDF - 769 Kb

Read the full report for a comprehensive analysis of enrolments and qualifiers of social worker courses in England. You can also learn about how these qualifiers move into new social worker roles in adult social care.

Learn more about adult social care

Methodology for creating workforce estimates

How the Workforce Intelligence team estimates the size, structure and characteristics of the adult social care workforce in England.  

 

Data downloads 

Explore the data behind the reports and data visualisations by downloading one of our data files. These use our workforce estimates to look at all variables and are split by geography, sector, service and job role. 

The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 

Annual report and data, providing a national picture of the adult social care workforce in England, including trends in recruitment, diversity and pay.  

Headline social worker information 

Annual report and data, providing a detailed analysis of social workers employed by local authorities in England working in adult social care.  

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