Independent report

National workload action group: reports on social worker workload

Reports exploring how to reduce social workers’ workload.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 25 September 2025

Applies to England

Documents

National workload action group final report

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-640-1

PDF, 634 KB, 77 pages

Reducing unnecessary social worker workload through workload and caseload management

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-642-5

PDF, 232 KB, 17 pages

Reducing unnecessary social worker workload through administrative support

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-637-1

PDF, 213 KB, 16 pages

Reducing unnecessary social worker workload through hybrid working and digital practice

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-639-5

PDF, 319 KB, 25 pages

Reducing unnecessary social worker workload through improving the quality of supervision

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-641-8

PDF, 366 KB, 30 pages

Artificial intelligence (AI) in case recording

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-638-8

PDF, 389 KB, 46 pages

Details

The Department for Education (DfE) set up the national workload action group in response to the independent review of children’s social care.

The group:

• aimed to find ways to reduce social workers’ workload
• developed recommendations for DfE

DfE commissioned Research in Practice, who wrote these reports, to support this work.

The final report:

• summarises the group’s work and the conclusions of the research
• makes recommendations for government to consider

The other reports have more detail on the 5 priority areas the group focused on in the final report.

Research in Practice has also developed tools and resources for local authorities to use.

Published 25 September 2025