National Care Service - justice social work: overview

Justice Social Work Workforce

Currently, most social workers are employed by councils, with the remaining social workers employed in the voluntary and independent sectors. Social work comprises a wide range of services, including children’s services, adults and older people’s services, justice, and mental health services.

• In 2020, there were 937 main grade or senior justice social workers, up from 898 in 2011
• If social work assistants, managers, admin, and support staff are included, there were a total of 1,950 workers in 2020, down from 2,000 in 2011

To provide a comparison, in the same year (2020) there were 1,978 main grade or senior social workers who work predominately with adults including those with learning disabilities and the elderly. If social work assistants, managers, admin, and support staff are included, there were a total of 5,340 in 2020 which is an increase from 4,860 in 2011.