The 2025 UK Social Care Budget brings significant new investment in children’s services, but workforce capacity and recruitment remain critical challenges. Discover what the changes mean for local authorities, social workers, and the wider social care sector.
Introduction: A Promising Budget – But People Make the Difference
The 2025 UK Budget brought long-awaited investment in social care, particularly within children’s services. For many in the sector, this represents a step in the right direction after years of mounting pressure.
But while new money matters, it’s people who deliver real change. Without a stable, skilled social care workforce, even the most generous funding settlements can fall short. For local authorities and practitioners alike, the real question is how this budget will translate into sustainable improvements on the ground.
Children’s Services Funding 2025: Welcome Investment, Real Capacity Gaps
The Government has pledged £555 million over three years from the Transformation Fund to reform children’s social care. This includes £75 million in 2025/26, rising to £271 million in 2026/27. A further £560 million between 2026 and 2029 will support the expansion and refurbishment of children’s homes and foster placements.
This comes as local authorities planned to spend £14.1 billion on children’s social care in 2024–25 — a 10.7% real-terms increase on the previous year. Much of this reflects rising safeguarding pressures, higher placement costs and growing demand for early intervention.
However, these figures mask some difficult realities. England faces an estimated shortfall of 6,500 foster carers, and although the number of children’s homes has risen by 15% year-on-year, 84% are privately run, often with limited capacity. Without expanding the social work workforce and placement options, funding alone won’t fix the system.
Adult Social Care: The Silent Pressure Point
Adult services received far less attention in the Budget — despite escalating need. Vacancy rates remain around 7%, or roughly 111,000 unfilled posts, with personal assistants and care workers facing even higher gaps. New visa restrictions introduced in July 2025 could make recruitment even more challenging, forcing adult and children’s services to compete for the same shrinking pool of professionals.
This underlines a crucial point: sustainable reform in one part of the sector cannot happen in isolation. The social care workforce spans both children’s and adult services, and pressures in one area inevitably impact the other.
Recruitment and Retention: The Deciding Factor
More funding often creates more posts — but filling them is another story. High vacancy rates and retention challenges could mean that increased budgets are quickly absorbed without delivering the visible improvements communities expect.
Turnover in adult social care remains stubbornly high at 24.7%, while children’s services face heavy caseloads and placement shortages. For local authorities, strategic workforce planning and strong partnerships will be key to ensuring new funding leads to real frontline change.
What This Means for Social Workers
For practitioners, the 2025 budget brings both opportunity and challenge:
- More roles and service development — particularly in prevention and early help
- Greater demand for specialist skills such as trauma-informed practice and safeguarding
- Potential career progression if support structures keep pace
However, without meaningful investment in supervision, manageable caseloads, and workforce wellbeing, the sector risks repeating familiar cycles of high turnover and burnout.
How ViaR Supports Sustainable Change
At ViaR, we help local authorities and social care teams turn funding into real outcomes. Our approach goes beyond recruitment. We offer:
- ✅ Compliance assurance to strengthen governance and placements
- 🤝 Strategic workforce support to boost retention and staff development
- 📈 Long-term placement planning aligned with service priorities and community needs
By listening to practitioners and service leaders, we help ensure that investment doesn’t just fill vacancies — it builds lasting capacity.
Conclusion: Funding Helps — But People Deliver
The 2025 social care budget is a positive signal, especially for children’s services. But progress depends on people — the skilled, committed workforce delivering support on the ground every day.
For local authorities and practitioners, this is both a moment of opportunity and a call to action. Strategic recruitment, retention, and partnership working will be the real drivers of change.
At VIAR, we’re ready to support local authorities and social workers to make that change happen.
👉 Get in touch to discuss how these budget changes affect your service or career.
