According to the report, there is expected to be an increasing shortfall of child and family social workers over the next decade, due to recruitment and retention challenges.
This is despite an increase in the number of registered social workers, which stood at 101,052 in November 2023 compared with 100,654 in the year prior.
Financial challenges faced by local authorities’ has also been escalated, and became classed as a new risk to services measured by DfE in January.
This comes as a £42mn overspend at Bradford Children and Families Trust was attributed to high levels of spending on agency social workers and residential placements for children in care.
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