Scotland's social work, social care and early years workforce shrinks
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The size of Scotland’s social work, social care and early years workforce dropped slightly last year to 208,360 people, a drop of 0.6 percent on 2020.
The report, published by the Scottish Social Services Council, shows that despite the small decrease, the sector still makes up approximately eight percent of all Scottish employment or one in 13 jobs.
The Scottish Social Service Sector: Report On 2021 Workforce Data highlights the size and importance of the social work, social care and early years workforce.
SSSC's acting chief executive Maree Allison said: "The past two and a half years of the Covid-19 pandemic has shown just how important the social work, social care and early years workforce is during a time of immense challenge.
"The sector is not just important in terms of supporting society’s most vulnerable however, as it also makes a major economic contribution and offers a wide range of careers and opportunities, which come with training and qualifications as well as job satisfaction.
"Just how much people value careers in social work, social care and early years is shown in the report by the fact that just over three quarters of the workforce were in the same job as the previous year.
"Day care of children saw the biggest increase in workers, where recruitment is continuing to meet the expansion of free early learning and childcare.
"In contrast, the numbers working in care homes for adults and care at home or housing support have fallen.
"However, the numbers working in care at home or housing support is still substantially more than it was 10 years ago as more care is being provided in people’s own homes.
"There are changes ahead as the Scottish Government’s National Care Service Bill progresses and it is a time of opportunity to appropriately recognise and value the social work and social care workforce through improved pay, terms and conditions.
"As the National Care Service develops, we will continue to support the workforce in every way that we can.’
