The Department for Education figures are for January so far and are an increase on data collected late last year.
Between October and December 2021 no councils reported that this proportion of their children’s social care workforce was prevented from working due to the health crisis.
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Staff absences due to the pandemic are worse among residential care staff, the figures suggest.
Some 23 per cent of councils are reporting that more than one in ten of those working in children's homes are sidelined with the virus. This is up on the four per cent of councils reporting such an impact on their residential care workforce in November to December last year. However, the DfE points out that some councils have small residential care workforces which may skew these figures.
The vulnerable children and young people survey data for September 2021 to January 2022 also charts trends in referrals to children’s social services.
This found a 27 per cent increase in the number of referrals from schools in September last year, compared to the previous year but were lower over the following three months.
Meanwhile, the figures show a three per cent rise in the number of looked-after children in January 2022 compared to the same time over the previous two years. The number of children on a child protection plan was two per cent lower over the same period.
Covid, and the spread of the Omicron variant, has also impacted on other areas of the children’s workforce this month, in particular the early years sector.
The London Early Years Foundation said it was nearly 100 staff short across its 39 settings due to the health crisis earlier in January. The government has relaxed staff to child ratios to help nurseries cope with staff absence.
