Adult social worker

Adult social workers work with people aged 18 and over who need care and support because of disability, illness, age or mental health, and with their carers. Much of the job in England is carrying out assessments and reviews under the Care Act 2014, investigating safeguarding concerns, and working out with the person how their needs can be met. You need a social work degree and registration with the regulator (Social Work England in England), and most posts are with councils, though NHS trusts employ social workers too.

Care Act assessments and the rest of the caseload

The Care Act gives councils a duty to assess anyone who appears to need care and support, and to decide whether their needs meet the national eligibility criteria. As a social worker you visit the person, often at home or in hospital, talk to them and the people around them, and record what they can and cannot do and what outcomes they want. If they are eligible, you draw up a care and support plan and arrange services or a direct payment. Plans then need reviewing.

Carers have their own right to an assessment, which you may carry out alongside the person they care for.

The other large strand is safeguarding. When someone is at risk of abuse or neglect and cannot protect themselves, the council must make enquiries. Social workers lead or coordinate those enquiries, working with police, health staff and providers.

You will also apply the Mental Capacity Act 2005 constantly: assessing whether someone can make a particular decision, and making or recording best interests decisions when they cannot. Disagreements with families over care homes, risk and money are common.

Where adult social workers work

• council community or locality teams, often split by area
• hospital discharge teams, working against pressure to free up beds
• learning disability and autism teams
• mental health teams, often based in an NHS mental health trust under joint arrangements
• reablement, occupational therapy-led or “front door” teams
• specialist safeguarding or deprivation of liberty teams

Each has a different pace. Hospital teams move fast and deal with lots of short pieces of work. Learning disability teams hold longer-term relationships with people and families.

Qualifying and the first year

The routes are the same as for children’s social work: an undergraduate social work degree, a postgraduate master’s, the social worker degree apprenticeship, or a fast-track programme. Think Ahead is a fast-track route specifically into mental health social work; see fast-track routes into social work.

Newly qualified social workers in England usually complete the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE), with a lighter caseload and extra supervision. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, registration is with the Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, and each has its own arrangements for newly qualified staff.

What it pays

Employer	How pay is set
Council (England, Wales)	Local grades built on the NJC pay spine, £25,614 (SCP 3) to £56,293 (SCP 43) in 2026/27
NHS trust (England)	Agenda for Change, usually band 6 (£39,959 to £48,117) for a qualified social worker
Senior and specialist posts	Higher NJC points or band 7 (£49,387 to £56,515)

Councils decide which spine points each grade covers, so check the advert. As an example, a grade covering SCP 24 to SCP 28 would pay £36,581 to £40,444. The NJC pay spine lists every point. Councils often pay market supplements for hard-to-fill teams, and approved mental health professionals commonly receive an additional allowance.

Councils employ you under Green Book terms with the Local Government Pension Scheme. NHS-employed social workers join the NHS Pension Scheme instead. In both cases, sick pay starts at one month’s full pay and two months’ half pay in the first year and rises with service.

Most posts need a full driving licence, and mileage is paid for visits. Rates depend on the employer’s scheme. The mileage allowance guide covers tax relief if the employer pays less than HMRC’s approved rate.

Specialist routes after qualifying

Two well-established progression routes are:

1. Approved mental health professional (AMHP). AMHPs coordinate assessments under the Mental Health Act 1983 and decide whether to apply for someone’s detention in hospital. Training is a postgraduate course taken after a period of post-qualifying experience, and AMHPs work on a rota that includes out-of-hours cover.
2. Best interests assessor, assessing deprivation of liberty in care homes and hospitals. The future of this role depends on the long-delayed replacement of the current deprivation of liberty safeguards.

Others move into practice educator roles, senior practitioner or team manager posts, or principal social worker roles.

The pressures of the job

Adult social work involves difficult conversations about money, risk and loss of independence, often with people who disagree with the outcome. Council budgets are tight and waiting lists for assessment are long in many areas. The work is more predictable than children’s child protection, with fewer emergency court deadlines, but it has its own pressures. Compare it with the children’s social worker profile, and try to spend time with a working adult social care team before committing to a degree.