Adults' social workers £2,500 worse off a year on average than eight years ago

The salary of social workers in adult services at local authorities in England has fallen by an “insulting” 5.5 per cent in real terms over the last eight years.

The drop sparked a call from BASW and the Social Workers Union for nationally agreed pay and conditions to stop the profession being the "poor relation in public services".

Actual pay for social workers in adult services rose 25 per cent between 2017 and 2025, from an average of £34,200 to £43,000.

But a failure to keep salaries in line with inflation amid the rising cost of living means the average salary is worth £2,500 less a year today than in 2017.

The data is highlighted in Skills for Care's annual report on The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2025.

It found registered nurses in the independent sector saw real term pay increase by 11.6 per cent during the period. The hourly rate of care workers rose by 21 per cent.

Meanwhile, locally authority-employed social workers in adults services along with occupational therapists both saw their salary drop by the same amount after factoring in inflation.

BASW’s interim chief executive and England national director Samantha Baron said: “It’s insulting. Social workers should not have to suffer what is effectively a pay cut to do their job.

“It is little wonder that people are leaving the profession. Social work is a highly skilled and demanding job both intellectually and emotionally, with professionals trained to a high level doing complex work against a difficult backdrop.

“At the very least we would expect their pay to keep up with inflation. It is time social workers in local authorities had a national pay scale as exists in the NHS.”

John McGowan, general secretary of the Social Workers Union, said: “There must be urgent and major investment within and beyond local authorities and not just pay rises, if social work is to play its fullest, necessary leading part in providing a social work service to communities across the country. 

“Social work has always been the poor relation in public services, and this needs to change.”

Social work salaries are set by individual local authorities. The Scottish Association of Social Work has called for nationally agreed pay and conditions ahead of next year’s elections in Scotland.

The Skills for Care report shows the social care sector as a whole has high vacancy rates – seven per cent compared to an average of 2.4 per cent across a list of nine other sectors including construction, education, manufacturing and retail.

The vacancy rate in social work was the third highest in adult social care at 8.8 per cent. Only registered care managers and personal assistants had higher rates, at 11.4 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively.

Social work also had the highest rate of indirectly employed staff at 11 per cent, reflecting continued reliance on agency workers.

High staff turnover continues to dog adult social care at  23.1 per cent across all roles. Among social workers, however, it was relatively low at 12.8 per cent. Managers had the lowest staff turnover rates.

Zero hour contracts, due to be banned in 2027, are still heavily relied upon in adult social care and make up 21 per cent of all roles.

Four per cent of social workers – equal to 900 workers – were on zero hour contracts in the last financial year.

Adults’ social workers had an average of 9.5 years’ experience in the profession and were on average aged 44.6.

The sector continues to be heavily dominated by women who make up 82 per cent of the workforce.

Along with occupational therapists, social workers also had the highest proportion of disabled workers, both at ten per cent.

The data showed 31 per cent of social workers were from an ethnic minority group. Of these, one in five was Black, African, Caribbean or Black British, seven per cent Asian or Asian British and three per cent mixed ethnicity.

The report says there are 21,500 social worker filled posts in England’s adult social care sector, with most – 19,200 – working in local authorities.

About 2,300 were employed within the independent sector. A further 4,900 worked in the NHS – a growing area for social work in which numbers have risen by 46.3 per cent since 2021.

The number of social work posts filled within local authorities grew by 13.2 per cent between 2019 and 2025.

The report says this is due to increased enrolments onto social work courses at the beginning of the decade who have since entered the workforce.