Guidance around the new quarterly statutory data collection on the use and pay of agency child and family social workers and the development and implementation of price caps.

Ahead of the first data return, local authorities will have to complete and submit a job mapping exercise to the Department for Education (DfE) to support the development of consistent and comparable price caps. Relevant timelines are detailed in the data and price caps operational guidance.

The guidance includes information on:

• the data being collected
• the supporting rationale
• submitting the data
• dashboards and data access
• job mapping exercise
• data protection
• price caps
• high-level timelines

DfE will add instructions on how to submit the files in due course.

The agency rules statutory guidance, which came into effect on 31 October 2024, is available.

Support and resources

DfE funded Research in Practice to develop resources to support the implementation of the agency rules statutory guidance. Developed in collaboration with Essex County Council and King’s College London, and in consultation with local government and the recruitment sector, these resources are intended to complement the agency rules statutory guidance and this data and price caps operational guidance.

The resources are available on the support for social workers platform.