The Scottish Social Services Sector: Report on 2023 Workforce Data shows the size of the workforce was 212,780 in December 2023, an increase of 0.6% on 2022. The workforce makes up approximately 8.1% of all Scottish employment or one in 13 jobs.
The report shows the rise was mainly driven by increases in the housing support, care at home and nurse agency sub-sectors, reflecting the move towards more care being provided in people’s homes.
SSSC Chief Executive, Maree Allison said: ‘This report shows how significant the social work, social care and children and young people workforce is in terms of how many people it employs and the contribution it makes to the wellbeing of society and the economy.
‘As Scotland’s population grows older more people are likely to need care and support to help them live well. The fact more of this is being provided in people’s own homes is reflected in the biggest workforce rises being in housing support, care at home and nurse agencies.
‘There are a wide range of job roles available in the social service workforce and we do lots of work with Scottish Government and other key partners to promote careers in care.
‘We also support workforce wellbeing and advocate for fair work to make sure the workforce is rightly valued for the important work they do and that people using services can have confidence in care.’
Key points from this year’s workforce data report
- The size of the workforce rose slightly to 212,780, an increase of 0.6% since 2022. The social service workforce makes up approximately 8.1% of all Scottish employment.
- This increase has been driven mainly by increases in the housing support/care at home and nurse agency sub-sectors.
- The whole time equivalent (WTE) measure of the workforce is 161,750, an increase of 0.5% since 2022.
- The stability index of the workforce is 74.4%. This means that around three-quarters of the workforce remained in the same post from the previous year.
- The largest employer type differs between local authority areas, with services in Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar (the three island authorities) provided mainly by the public sector. However, in most areas the private sector is the largest employer.
- The three largest sub-sectors are housing support/care at home, care homes for adults and day care of children; together these account for almost 79% of the workforce.
- The median age of the workforce is highest in the public sector (46) and lowest in the private sector (39). Staff working in early years services in the private sector have the lowest median age (28).
- The percentage of men working in the sector is 16%, although it is around double or greater that proportion in criminal justice social work, school care accommodation and residential children’s services.
- The workforce is mainly employed on permanent contracts (82%).
- The median figure for the typical weekly hours worked by staff is 33 and 53% of the workforce work full time (more than 30 hours per week).
Watch our video
You can hear more about the report from SSSC Workforce Intelligence Manager, Michael Docherty, in our video.
Download the Scottish Social Services Sector: Report on 2023 Workforce Data here.
You can find more reports on our Workforce Data website.