This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Social work post and vacancies
17/11/2006
The results of a quarterly social worker census held across all Scottish local authorities on October 2 are published today.
Headline messages are:
The number of filled social worker posts has increased slightly by 0.9# between July 2006 and October 2006, from 4,810 whole time equivalent (WTE) to 4,855 WTE. The total number of filled posts has also shown an increase of 2.0 per cent between October 2005 and October 2006
The number of social worker vacancies has decreased by 10.7 per cent between July 2006 and October 2006, from 442 whole time equivalent (WTE) to 395 WTE. The total number of unfilled posts have also shown a decrease of 21.4 per cent between October 2005 and October 2006
The proportion of all social worker posts that were vacant has decreased from 8.4 per cent in July 2006 to 7.5 per cent in October 2006. The proportion of all social worker posts that were vacant has also shown an overall decrease of 2.0 percentage points between October 2005 and October 2006
In children's services, the number of filled posts decreased by 0.1 per cent from 2,164 WTE in July 2006 to 2,163 WTE in October 2006, but the number of vacancies also decreased by 17.1 per cent over the same time period (from 226 WTE vacancies in July 2006 to 188 WTE in October 2006)
The number of filled adult services posts increased by 1.7 per cent from 1,413 WTE in July 2006 to 1,437 WTE in October 2006, and the number of vacancies decreased by 5.1 per cent over the same time period (from 118 WTE vacancies in July 2006 to 112 WTE in October 2006)
Since October 2005, the number (WTE) of filled social worker posts in all services has increased, with the largest percentage rise in services for offenders (a 4.3 per cent increase). The number of social worker vacancies has decreased in all services since October 2005, except offender services which saw a rise of 11.1 per cent, over the same time period
Between July 2006 and October 2006, the number (WTE) of filled senior social worker posts has decreased by 0.6 per cent and the number of vacant senior social worker posts has increased by 11.0 per cent. As for main grade social workers, the number (WTE) of filled posts has increased by 1.3 per cent and the number of vacant posts has decreased by 15.7 per cent
Since October 2005, the total number (WTE) of filled senior social worker posts has increased by 3.8 per cent from 973 WTE to 1,010 WTE in October 2006. The number of vacant senior social worker posts has decreased by 15.9 per cent from 108 WTE to 91 WTE over the same time period. As for main grade social workers, the total number (WTE) of filled posts has increased by 1.5 per cent from 3,787 WTE in October 2005 to 3,845 WTE in October 2006. The number of vacant posts has decreased by 22.9 per cent from 394 WTE to 304 WTE over the same period
In October 2006, 20.5 per cent of all vacant social worker posts have been vacant for over twelve months - an increase of 10.9 percentage points since July 2006.