This study is based on a follow-up in 2014 of a survey conducted in 2003 among Swedish child welfare social workers. The same questionnaire used in 2003 (n = 309) was distributed to social workers (n = 349) who, in 2014, were working with the same types of tasks as in the previously investigated areas. The overall aim was to examine and analyse how working conditions have developed over these eleven years. From the results, two general patterns emerge. The first shows a deterioration of their working conditions, with higher work demands, increased role conflicts and less possibility to influence important decisions. The intention to leave the workplace or the profession had also increased. The second overall pattern concerns the emerging changes in job content, where the work today seems to be focused on conducting investigations whereas the vast majority of the social workers in 2003 also mentioned other tasks, such as giving advice and support, as being part of their job content. Contrary to their wishes, the social workers of today seem to have less time to devote to direct contact with clients. The consequences of these changes for the professional role of social workers and for their clients are discussed.

This study is the third in a series of studies comparing the development of the working conditions of child welfare social workers in Sweden during the last decade. The same questionnaire was distributed in 2014 (n = 349) to the social workers handling investigations of children and youth who were working with the same types of tasks in the districts previously investigated in 2003 (n = 309). The questionnaire (QPS Nordic) contained questions about their job content, role conflicts, demands, organisational climate, job satisfaction and intention to leave the workplace or change profession. The aim of the present study was to analyse this development in relation to the low-income, middle-income and high-income districts where the social workers were employed. The results reveal two different patterns. The first concerns the social workers’ perception of their work tasks where the situation seems to have deteriorated in all three income areas but more so in the low income areas. Furthermore, the social workers’ intention to leave the workplace and health problems had increased overall, but were more pronounced in the low income areas. The second pattern concerns the differences in the social workers’ perception of their workplace in terms of support, leadership and organisational climate. In the low-income areas the social workers today are significantly less satisfied with how their organisations function than their colleagues were in 2003, whereas the social workers in the other areas today seem significantly more satisfied than in 2003. The consequences of these changes and their probable background are discussed.