Workforce data collection 2024

We carry out the workforce data collection every year to give a snapshot of the social care workforce in Wales.

We ask local authorities and independent service providers to send us data on their workforce numbers and characteristics.

We’ve run the collection since 2021, after Welsh Government’s Performance and improvement framework for social services replaced previous collections with a single process managed by us.

The collection is different to information published about the registered workforce as it collects data on 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.

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

This improves our ability to make informed and evidence-based decisions about the workforce, so they can be empowered to better support people who use care and support.

We were given the responsibility of collecting this data as we regulate the social care workforce in Wales.

Find out what data we collect.

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.

We’ll be publishing our report about the 2023 collection later this year.

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.

There are only three changes being made for this year’s collection.

Two of the changes are part of our work to align our collection with and Care Inspectorate Wales’s (CIW) annual returns.

• The collection will now ask for the number of staff in post as at 31 March 2024, bringing our date in line with what CIW ask for.
• To make sure that the data we collect can be compared as easily as possible with that collected by CIW, we’ve made sure that settings are aligned across both organisation. This means we can more effectively assign data collectors for each organisation and setting.

You can read more about our work to align our collection with CIW’s later on this page.

The only extra data we’re asking for this year is in the contracts section, where we’d like to know how many staff you currently employ that need a visa to work in the UK.

We need your organisation to send us data through SCWonline.

If you’re a data collector for your organisation, you should see ‘Workforce Data Collection’ appear in the top menu when you log into your SCWonline account.

Once you’ve clicked through to the workforce data collection area of the site, you’ll find guidance on how to complete your return.

It's mandatory for local authorities to send us their data, but data from commissioned providers helps us build a more complete picture of the social care sector in Wales. Commissioned providers are made up of commercial businesses, not-for-profit and third-sector organisations, and 68 per cent of them sent their data to us in 2022.

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.

If you’re unsure who the data collector for your organisation is, please contact data@socialcare.wales.

We know CIW collects some data on the social care workforce as part of its annual returns process.

We recognise that having to provide similar data to both us and CIW is not the most efficient process.

We’ve been working with CIW to develop a solution that allows both organisations to collect data in a way that not only meets the needs of each organisation, but also presents a picture of the social care workforce in Wales that is seen as valuable insight for people who work in the sector.

If you're a data collector for your organisation, we'll invite you to take part in discussions about this soon, so that the development of any new process is led by the people we work with. Please make sure your contact details are correct on SCWonline so that we can let you know about this work.