30,000 social worker days lost to mental ill health in just one year

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today revealed new figures showing that more than 30,000 social worker days were lost to mental ill health in just one year and called on the Scottish Government to invest in the profession by delivering better pay and conditions.  

30 councils responded to a Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request, revealing that in 2022/23:   

• 30,567 days were lost to mental ill health among social worker staff.  
• Glasgow reported the highest number of absences with 4,794 days lost, followed by Edinburgh with 2,246 days lost.  

The Scottish Government is currently proposing to fold social work into a centralised care service. This is despite numerous care sector leaders calling for the government to set out evidence of the benefits of including these services. They have also asked for more clarity about what should be kept from current modes of delivery and more consultation with relevant service users.  

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:  

“It is shocking to see so many absences in a single year. Social workers deal with the toughest cases imaginable, and these figures highlight the heavy toll it takes on their mental health.  

“The last thing that hardworking staff need is to be subsumed into an unwieldy ministerial takeover, which would be answerable only to ministers and insensitive to local needs.

“This vast and unnecessary bureaucracy must be scrapped, not salvaged.  

“Rather than wasting billions of pounds on a ministerial power grab that will do nothing to address mental ill-health, the Scottish Government should be spending that money on making staff feel safe and supported. To bring down sky-high absences and make social care a profession of choice, ministers need to reward staff with better pay and conditions and strengthen opportunities for personal development.”