Annual workforce report

Every year, we produce a report which gives a snapshot of the social care workforce in Wales.

The report is based on data provided by local authorities and independent service providers about their workforce numbers and characteristics.

It’s different to information published about the registered workforce as it presents data about everyone working in social care.

It also looks at things like contracts and working hours, as well as joiners and leavers and where they move to and from.

Having the fullest picture possible of the size and shape of the social care workforce in Wales helps us to plan ahead.

By providing your data, you're contributing to our understanding of the people who work in social care in Wales.

From 2026, we’ll be collecting the data as part of the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) annual return process, meaning providers only need to submit their data once. Previously, we and CIW carried out two separate data collection exercises each year.

CIW will collect the data from social care providers, and we’ll produce our report based on the data they collect. As well as reducing the time burden on providers, this also makes sure that the data held by the two organisations is consistent.

The new combined collection will not ask for any information which isn’t already collected as part of the two existing collections.

We collect the data to get a better understanding of those who work in social care in Wales.

Making sure we have the highest quality data to understand the social care workforce in Wales is incredibly important. Without good quality data, we can’t truly understand the shape and size of social care in Wales.

It also helps us get a better idea of where the demand for care is, in which types of provision, and to plan effectively for the future.

Good quality data enables us to make better decisions, based on evidence. This means we can help to deliver better care and support for people in Wales and provide better support for the staff who deliver it.

The unified collection will also support our commitment to the Performance and Improvement Framework for social care in Wales, by simplifying the work to gather high quality data.

We analyse the data and present it in a report we publish every year, which gives an overview of the workforce as a whole and breaks the findings down for different settings.

The data we collect is the only data collected on the entire social care workforce in Wales. Because of this, the report has a variety of different users. These include:

• Welsh and UK governments
• the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru and local authorities
• regulators such as Care Inspectorate Wales and Social Care Wales
• care providers
• researchers
• the media
• members of the public.

The data has been used in the planning of training positions for social workers and care workers in Wales, as well as to support specific projects such as the development of the vaccination programme for care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We’ll also use the data to produce related articles and content about different aspects of our findings through the National Social Care Data Portal for Wales.

The new combined collection will be carried out through CIW’s existing annual return process. That means you’ll need a CIW Online account to submit your data.

If you're the data collector for your organisation or setting, you might be referred to as an 'organisational officer' by CIW, or you might need to be set up as an 'online assistant'. There's information about how Responsible Individuals and organisational officers can create and delegate to online assistants on the CIW website.

Responsible Individuals or organisational officers should log in to their CIW Online account before 1 April to make sure their service details are up to date, or create an account if needed. If you’re a social care provider who isn’t yet registered with CIW, please contact data@socialcare.wales to make sure you can continue to provide your valuable data.

Full details on how to submit data through the annual return process can be found on the CIW website.

The annual return window will close on 26 May.

The new combined collection will follow the existing annual return schedule, taking place each spring. Our own collection was previously carried out in the autumn each year.

Due to the shorter gap between collections this year, our 2025 findings will be published after the 2026 data has been collected.

We expect this to be the case for this year only, as we move to the new collection timeline.