The findings will help us and key partners, including Scottish Government, to find out more about the experience of working in this field, as well as informing the development of national policies that have an impact on this sector and approaches on how best to support the workforce.
The survey was carried out on our behalf by Progressive Partnership from January to February 2025 and 6,581 registered and some non-registered workers responded. The largest response was from the social care workforce, making up 59% of the total responses.
You can read the full report on our website.
Main findings
People told us they were more likely to be satisfied (56%) than dissatisfied (35%) with their current job. A majority (60%) said they feel safe in their work environment, while just under half (47%) said they would recommend their organisation as a great place to work.
Overall, respondents were more likely to recommend working in the sector than not. Two-fifths said they would be likely to recommend it while three in 10 said they wouldn’t.
When asked what they most like/enjoy about working in the sector, respondents tended to mention making a difference/ feelings of satisfaction/ the job being rewarding and/ or aspects related to the service users they work with/ relationships with clients.
Suggestions about what should be done to make the sector an attractive and rewarding place to work focused on better pay. Other common suggestions included improvements in how staff are recognised and supported, reducing workloads/ time pressures and issues related to staffing/ recruitment.
Overall, just over half (54%) said they were very or fairly satisfied with their terms and conditions of employment.
Roughly half of respondents are paid an annual salary and half are paid hourly. Half of those on an hourly rate (of £13.10 on average) said they were finding it more difficult to manage financially than this time last year.
The survey highlighted that while attitudes towards training were generally positive, with two-thirds saying they are supported to gain qualifications for registration, they also mentioned barriers to training and learning, with lack of time, employers not allowing time off for training and unavailability of courses being the most commonly mentioned obstacles.
Staff turnover was reported to be high by almost half of respondents, leading to increased stress levels, increased workloads and lower staff morale among remaining staff.
Just over a fifth of respondents (22%) said they were likely to leave their role in the sector in the next 12 months. Almost half of the respondents said they are likely to leave their role in the next five years. Their key reasons are being overworked, low pay and poor employment or working conditions in general.
Forty-three per cent of workers who plan to leave the sector have experienced either bullying, discrimination or harassment in their role. Overall, 45% of social worker respondents revealed that they have experienced this behaviour along with social care workers (37%) and workers in children and young people services (34%).
Despite these challenges, social care staff were generally the most positive in their responses, reporting the fewest sources of stress and the highest levels of job satisfaction.
Differences across social work, social care and children and young people services
The SSSC registers a wide range of different professions in this sector and the findings show that while generally people come into their career for similar reasons, there are differences in their experiences depending on whether they work in social work, social care or children and young people services.
Social work staff tended to express the most negative views/lowest levels of satisfaction with their current roles.
Social care staff were generally the most positive in their responses.
Children and young people services staff tended to be into the middle in terms of levels of satisfaction and reported wellbeing at work.
Learning from the findings
Maree Allison, SSSC Chief Executive said:
‘This is the first time we have carried out this survey and the results show that the workforce in Scotland is committed to making a real difference to people’s lives.
‘I’m reassured to hear that many people feel valued for the work they do and the survey has given us a unique insight into this workforce and their experiences. It’s important now that we learn from the findings so that people working in this sector feel supported, able to develop their skills and to grow in their careers.
‘However, the results also highlight challenges covering a range of topics, including pay and conditions with half of those on hourly rates telling us they are finding it more difficult to manage financially than this time last year.
‘And there are significant differences in experiences overall depending on whether people work in social work, social care or children and young people services.
‘We will share the findings to help shape and design the support and services we provide as well as guiding the work of partner organisations and government.
‘Thank you to everyone who gave their time to take part in the research and contributed thoughts and views that have given us an insight into what working in these services in Scotland is like today.’
Read the Have Your Say Workforce Wellbeing Survey 2025 – report of findings.
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Summary of the main points from the report |
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