4.4 Plan for a sustainable future workforce

The National Social Work Agency, working as part of the Scottish Social Work Partnership, will work with partners to review national and local workforce plans and establish a national approach to workforce planning. This will ensure Scotland has the right numbers of appropriately qualified social workers to meet demand.

With partners, we will develop a national overview of workforce data and identify gaps. We will use this to inform both local and national planning. We will collaborate with local areas to establish a consistent national approach and work with partners to determine the most effective methods for gathering evidence of demand for social work services. We will develop strategies for recruitment and retention, including campaigns to support the long-term sustainability of the sector.

Strategic objective: enable a co-ordinated national approach to workforce planning across the social work sector by creating an overview of the number of social workers needed nationally to ensure long term sustainability

Outcome: a shared understanding of national and local workforce planning and a coordinated, partnership-led and evidence-informed national workforce planning approach that enables strategic decision-making and supports long-term sustainability across the social work sector

During 2026/27 our work in this area will focus on:

• developing a baseline of practising social workers in the local government workforce to inform workforce capacity, shortfalls and skills
• visibility of data, information and analysis about social work through research, insights and reporting on provision of services
• developing methodologies and tools to support workforce planning and resource allocation at a national level
• coordinating targeted workforce planning through improved understanding of social work service demands
• creating a national workforce plan informed by consistent, local workforce planning and service demand
• exploring different ways to qualify as a social worker and the diversity of roles and careers within the profession
• assessing options of national approaches to support improved retention and recruitment of social workers
• reviewing and coordinating numbers of social workers, and specialist skills and roles needed for implementation