International Social Workers in England: An unknown
workforce?Shereen Hussein
Jill Manthorpe
Martin Stevens
Social Care Workforce Research Unit
King’s College London
This study is funded by the Department of Health Adult Social Care Workforce Research Initiative
What’s going on?• Is there a demand for international social
care workers?• What are their experiences, motivations
and plans?• How do social workers compare who have
qualified outside and inside the UK?• Who are international workers?• What’s the potential contribution of
refugees & asylum seekers in social care?
Ways and means • Review of literature, interviews with
recruitment agencies (20) & key stakeholders (15)
• Analysis of statistics:– Related to social workers (GSCC)– Related to social care workers (NMDS)
• In-depth 6 case study sites interviewing international staff, their colleagues/managers and service users/carers
• Interviews with a national sample of asylums/refugees and people working with them
Figuring it out• Quantitative data analysis of UK and
non-UK social workers’ records in England - held by General Social Care Council – October 2008
• Comparison of characteristics of 7,200 non-UK social workers with approx. 74,000 social workers in England
Characteristics of non-UK social workers
• Main countries:– Australia and New Zealand (21%)– Canada and United States (18%)– South Africa (15%)– India (12%)
• 18% from EEA countries (with the right to work in the UK- 3% from new A8 countries)
Characteristics of non-UK social workers: ethnicity and gender
• Over half are ‘White’, 57%• Nearly the same proportion of ‘Black’ and
‘Asian’ (18% each)• Those identifying themselves with Black
ethnicity are significantly older (median age of 38 years)
• 55% of social workers trained in India are men followed by 48% from Eastern Africa while 10% of those trained in South Africa (24% of UK qualified social workers are men)
Characteristics of non-UK social workers: age
• Significantly younger than UK SWs (median 33.6 compared to 48.2 years)
• median age lowest (30.9 years) among those trained in:– A8 countries, – followed by Australia & New Zealand and other
Eastern European countries• Median age 40 years or higher among those
who qualified in Eastern Africa, the Caribbean, South Eastern Asia and South America
• Internationally qualified men are significantly older than women.
Characteristics of non-UK qualified social workers: trends• Median age of starting UK
employment is declining - from 33.2 years in 2004 to 31.6 in 2008
• Percentage of social workers identifying themselves as White & Asian increased slightly
• Sharp increase in numbers and proportion of social workers trained in India & decline in proportion trained in Southern Africa (see over)
Characteristics of non-UK social workers: trends in country of training
Summary• Numbers of non-UK social workers have
not seen a dramatic change since 2004• Composition is changing in terms of age
and country of training &, to a lesser extent, ethnicity
• Mobility of male social workers is higher from some countries than others
• Age is different among different non-UK ethnic groups
• Overall, they are significantly younger than UK social workers.
next steps
• What are the outcomes for people using services and carers?
• What do colleagues and managers think?
• Will international social workers stay or return?
• Will there be a decline in overseas recruitment of social workers?
Contact details
• Shereen Hussein: [email protected]
• Jill Manthorpe: [email protected]
• Martin Stevens: [email protected]