Does your caseload match the average calculated by the DfE?

Most social workers hold caseloads above the average calculated by the Department for Education (DfE), a Community Care poll has found.

As of September 2023, DfE findings show that the average caseload held by children’s practitioners in English councils has decreased to 16 cases, from 16.6 in September 2022.

The number was calculated by dividing the number of children or young people allocated to a named social worker by the number of full-time equivalent practitioners, including agency staff.

However, a recent Community Care poll, amassing 586 votes, has found that most respondents (73%) held more cases than the DfE’s average.

Only 9% reported holding 10-15 cases, while about 18% had caseloads close to the DfE’s calculation, at 15-20 cases.

The rest had well above 16 cases: 28% said they were working on 20-25 cases, 19% said 25-30, 10% said 30-35 and 16% reported being assigned more than 35.

The DfE’s low figure has come under criticism for underestimating social workers’ caseloads.

One likely reason for this is that all registered practitioners who hold cases are included in the denominator for the figures.

This means those who hold relatively few cases, such as managers, depress the overall average.

Is your current caseload in tune with the DfE’s findings or our poll result?