Wednesday August 12th 2026
Photo by Age Cymru
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
The number of full time social workers employed by Glasgow City Council has increased over the last three years – but there are still more than 70 vacancies left unfilled.
Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and shared exclusively with the LDR service shows that between 2025-2026 there were 994.03 full time equivalent (FTE) social workers compared to 948.06 and 928.83 in 2024 – 2025 and 2023 -2024 respectively.
Between 2025-2026 there were 73.64 (FTE) social worker vacancies compared to 75.68 in 2024-2025 and 78.65 between 2023 – 2024.
The FOI also shows that there were ten financial year agency social workers in 2025-2026, 11 in 2024 -2025, 10 in 2023 – 2024 and 15 in 2022 – 2023.
Councillor Paul Carey BEM says it is important to look at what the figures are saying.
Councillor Carey said: “First of all, I welcome the increase in the number of social workers employed by Glasgow City Council over the last five years.
“The fact that the number of social workers has increased also reflects the growing demand for social work services. More people are relying on these vital services, and that means the pressure on our social workers is increasing too.
“What concerns me is that, despite the increase in staffing, there are still a significant number of vacant posts.
“At the same time, the council continues to rely on agency workers to fill some of these gaps.
“Agency staff play an important role and, without them, some services would undoubtedly struggle to operate. But agency workers also come at a considerably higher cost to the Council than employing permanent members of staff.
“This is not simply about saving money.
“It is about making sure vulnerable people receive consistent and high-quality support from experienced professionals who have the time and resources to build relationships with the people they are supporting.”
Councillor Carey says the council needs to understand why these vacancies remain unfilled and what more can be done to attract people into social work and, importantly, encourage them to stay.
He added: “We should also be looking at whether there are better ways of supporting existing staff, improving working conditions and creating clear career opportunities within social work.
“If we can reduce our dependence on agency workers, we could potentially save a significant amount of public money while strengthening the permanent workforce.
“That money could then be redirected into frontline services and into the communities that need support the most.
“Nobody should underestimate the importance of social workers. They deal every day with some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable, supporting children, families, older people and vulnerable adults.
“They deserve our support but so do the people who depend on these services.
“We need to make sure that the posts we have are filled, that our social workers are properly supported and that we are getting the best possible value from every pound of public money.
“Glasgow’s most vulnerable residents deserve nothing less.”
A spokeswoman for Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership said: “The number of social worker vacancies is broadly consistent for Glasgow.
“We don’t tend to experience difficulty in recruiting social workers and we carry out recruitment campaigns for student social workers each year.
“These campaigns are annual and occur prior to graduation, allowing for conditional start dates across the summer months.”
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