This annual release contains statistics on children and family social workers, including agency social workers, employed in local authorities in England. Each reporting year covers the period 1 October to 30 September.

Children and family social workers are social workers registered with Social Work England (SWE) working in a local authority in a children's services department or, if working in an authority where the services are joined up, a social worker that works primarily on children and families work.

Figures are shown on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis. The timeseries in this release feature data from 2017 onwards, which is when information on individual social workers was first collected by the Department for Education (DfE).