Social services across Europe face a common challenge - recruiting and sustaining a workforce to meet increasing demands for social care and support. The impact of societal, structural, and technological changes is already evident and will continue to grow. Rising inequality, the effects of crises, evolving expectations, and demographic shifts are all contributing to a growing demand for care, support, and protection services. At the same time, rapid digital transformation offers great potential for social services professionals to optimise their time, support better and more people in need, and empower service users to self-manage their support effectively.

The European Social Network places a central focus on the social services workforce. In 2016-2017, we ran a questionnaire, organised a seminar and published a report to discuss the education, training, organisation and roles in social services teams across Europe. Throughout our activities, for example a round-table at the European Parliament , we address  workforce challenges and support our members to discuss measures to improve the recruitment, retention, development and conditions of social services and social care professionals across Europe.  Our goal is to promote a skilled and well-equipped workforce capable of delivering high-quality social services that positively impact communities and individuals.