Personal Social Services: Staff of Social Services Departments, England 2017 [PAS]

•  As at September 2017 there were 109,300 adult social services jobs in Local Authorities in England (held by around 105,300 people), a decrease of 50,100 Local Authority jobs since 2011 (31 per cent). The most frequently cited reasons for these decreases between 2016 and 2017 were restructures and service closures.

•  Between 2016 and 2017 the three per cent decrease in adult social services jobs in Local Authorities has been the lowest year on year change since 2011.

•  Nearly half of Local Authority job roles (52,800 jobs) were in Direct care, although this role group also saw the largest decrease since 2016 (a decrease of 3,000 jobs).

•  The Professional job group, which includes Social Workers and Occupational therapists has remained stable since 2011 and is the only job group to have an increase in jobs, 200 since 2016.

•  An estimated 3.3 million hours per week are worked by adult social care staff within Local Authorities.

•  The average age of adult social care staff in in Local Authorities is 47. This is five years older when compared to the latest available equivalent for the independent sector (Skills for Care, 2017)1 and NHS workforce average age.

•  46 per cent of staff had zero sick days in the year. On average, the mean number of sickness days for adult social care staff in Local Authorities is 9.3 days, down 1.2 days since 2016, however this is 5 days more than the UK employment and labour market population average.