The start of a new year is an opportunity for reflection and new beginnings.
It’s the time when social media feeds fill up with posts from people taking on new roles, announcing breaks or unveiling plans to make changes to their working lives.
With social work already experiencing growing turnover in children’s and adults’ services, we wanted to find out how likely practitioners were to move roles in 2024.
In a recent Community Care poll, that drew 580 votes, two-thirds of respondents said they anticipated making a move.
One in five (19%) reported they were planning to leave the profession, including through retirement, while 17% said they expected to move employers instead.
More practitioners said they planned to move from a permanent post to an agency one (14%), than in the other direction (4%), while 13% said they expected to move roles within their organisation.
The remainder (34%) anticipated staying put.
Check out previous Readers’ Takes
- Do social workers hold mothers entirely responsible for their children’s safety?
- Do employers address issues with high caseloads in social work teams?
- Does discrimination play a role in fitness to practise processes?
- Should unions settle their pay dispute with councils?
- Will price caps solve the pay gap between agency and permanent social workers?
Are you planning to make a career move in 2024?
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Develop your social work career with Community Care’s Careers and Training Guide 
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