Councils in England will need to hire 13,000 more social workers over the next 10 years amid growing need for the care and support of young people, according to new research.
If the Government does not invest in early intervention, 46,000 children and family social workers will be needed in 2034, the Local Government Association (LGA) found.
The figure represents a rise of more than a third on the 33,000 social workers in post in 2023.
The LGA said there must be a national recruitment drive involving government-funded training programmes, Level 7 apprenticeships and bursaries to encourage people to retrain from other professions.
The association also called for funding for further rounds of its ‘Return to Social Work’ programme.
The chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, Arooj Shah, said: ‘We need to make people aware that a career as a children’s social worker can be a very positive, enriching and rewarding role that makes a profound difference to children’s lives.
‘Sadly it is often a role that only gets attention when things go wrong.’
