‘Have Your Say’ workforce survey 2025: Summary of responses from social workers

Demographics

We found that: 

• the most common age group was between 40 and 44 years old
• 76 per cent were female, and 22 per cent male
• 86 per cent were straight/heterosexual
• 72 per cent were White and 17 per cent were Black
• 24 per cent said they had a long-term condition which lasted 12 months or more. Of those who had a long-term condition, at least 51 per cent said it affected a little on their day-to-day functioning
• 35 per cent suggested they were a carer outside of work
• 17 per cent said they were neurodivergent
• 48 per cent said they could speak at least some Welsh
• 20 per cent are able to use their Welsh at work either all or most of the time
• 82 per cent were employed by an organisation which provides social care, such as a local authority or private company, and seven per cent were employed by an agency
• 49 per cent said they were members of a trade union, with most a member of UNISON (32 per cent) or the Social Workers Union (eight per cent). 

Recruitment and retention

We found that: 

• 55 per cent started working in social care because they wanted a job that would make a difference to people’s lives. Meanwhile, 13 per cent thought it would suit their skills, and 11 per cent felt they would enjoy it. Respondents could choose more than one reason
• 39 per cent found out about working in social care through friends and family working in the sector, 21 per cent through a job advertised online, and nine per cent through recruitment fairs or companies. 

Leadership, training and development

We found that: 

• 45 per cent wanted a leadership role in the future 
• 65 per cent believed it was possible for them to become a leader
• 30 per cent had sought a progression opportunity in the past year
• 83 per cent believed they had sufficient training to do their jobs well, and 83 per cent said that they have enough training to fulfil CPD requirements 
• 51 per cent said they need more training to progress their career
• 60 per cent said they had no issues in accessing work-related training. 

Bullying, discrimination and harassment

Here we present the percentage of social workers who said they’d experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination from different sources in the past 12 months. 

• From managers: Bullying (11 per cent) and discrimination (10 per cent). Of those who said they’d experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination from a manager, 49 per cent said that this was reported by themselves or a colleague, and 18 per cent of those who reported it felt it was dealt with adequately.
• From colleagues: Bullying (eight per cent) and discrimination (five per cent). Of those who experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination from a colleague, 60 per cent said that this was reported by themselves or a colleague, and 30 per cent of those who reported it felt it was dealt with adequately.
• From people they support or their families: Bullying (seven per cent) and harassment (seven per cent). Of those who experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination from someone they support or their families, 72 per cent said that this was reported by themselves or a colleague, and 49 per cent of those who reported it felt it was dealt with adequately. 

We also found that 69 per cent felt their employer acted fairly in decisions about career progression and promotion, in relation to protected characteristics. 

Pay, terms and conditions

We found that: 

• 71 per cent were satisfied with their terms and conditions
• six per cent were employed on a zero-hours contract, whereas 80 per cent of those on a zero-hours contract would have preferred a fixed/regular hours contract
• 51 per cent suggested they were ‘living comfortably’ or ‘doing alright’ financially, 25 per cent ‘just about getting by’, and 22 per cent finding it ‘quite’ or ‘very’ difficult to get by
• 49 per cent said they were finding it either ‘a lot’ or ‘slightly’ more difficult to manage financially compared to last year, and 13 per cent either ‘slightly’ or much easier
• 39 per cent were dissatisfied with their pay. 

Health and well-being

We assessed the well-being of the workforce using the ONS4. These are four measures used by the Office for National Statistics to capture different types of personal well-being on a scale of 0 to 10. We compared the average response from this survey with the UK average for each measure. Each of the findings below is higher than the UK average:  

• Satisfaction with life: 7.51 (UK average: 7.45)
• Life is worthwhile: 7.93 (UK average: 7.73)
• Happiness yesterday: 7.46 (UK average: 7.39)
• Anxiety: 5.38 (UK average: 3.23) 

We also asked other questions about well-being. We found that: 

• 76 per cent said their morale was good
• 54 per cent said they struggled to switch off when they leave work
• 40 per cent suggested they had enough support to deal with stress
• the main causes of stress reported were workload (50 per cent), paperwork or administrative load (47 per cent), and worrying about things outside of work (27 per cent)
• 49 per cent suggested they’d attended work at least twice in the past year despite being so ill they should have stayed at home. 

Working conditions

We found that: 

• 74 per cent said they felt helped and supported by their manager
• 84 per cent felt they felt helped and supported by their colleagues
• 57 per cent suggested they had the right staff to deliver services
• 62 per cent felt able to meet the needs of the people they care for and support. 

We also asked how much people felt valued by different groups they interact with. We found that: 

• 74 per cent felt valued by their manager
• 83 per cent felt valued by their colleagues
• 76 per cent felt valued by the people they support
• 55 per cent felt valued by partner agencies
• 37 per cent felt valued by the general public.