The General Social Care Council published its Annual Report for 2009-10 in July this year. Along with setting out its aims and priorities for the coming years, we also included some interesting facts about the profile of the Social Care Register in England. Read on to find out a bit more about your profession and social worker colleagues.
The report shows that there is a continued predominance of females in social work with 77 per cent of registered social workers being female, and 23 per cent male. Data from the Social Care Register also reveals that two per cent of registered social workers are under 24; 16 per cent are aged 25-34; 25 per cent are 35-44; 33 per cent are 45-54; and 24 per cent are over 55.
Of all registered social workers, 70 per cent are white with the second largest group being black at 10 per cent followed by Asian at 4.3 per cent. The 2001 census revealed that 91 per cent of the then working age population in England was white; 2.3 per cent black and 4.7 per cent Asian. These two sets of figures suggest that white people are proportionally under-represented in the social worker population. Further breakdown of ethnic groups is demonstrated in the following diagram:
I agree with points below that it would be interesting to see a comparison of these statistics with the demographic of management. And for there to be more diversity in the data collection - what of disabled or LGBTQ social workers?rnrnI also think it's interesting that the article focuses on white people being underrepresented within social work (compared to the entire working population) rather than taking into account the relationship between ethnicity and unemployment or the relationship between the ethnicity of social workers and service users.
Esther
20 Nov 2011
The gender data does not give rise to any surprises, although I believe there is an increase in male social workers from about 17% in previous years. Equally there is some slow progress in the representation of BME social workers but this needs to be continually monitored and addressed. I question however why there is no apparent data and focus on disabled social workers. They remain a hidden and often fearful group who are more frequently viewed as recipients of care rather than social work professionals who have something valuable to offer both those who receive services and organizations, managers and practitioners. There still remains a mountain to climb before we are afforded full recognition from our profession and acknowledgement as equals. Hopefully with the move of the registration system into the health sector, we will not retreat as a profession to the medical model of disability!
Nikki Young
02 Oct 2010
Interesting that this only concentrates on ethnicity! I would be interested in knowing how many Social Workers are male and how many Social Work managers are!
marion thorpe
09 Sep 2010
