07/05/2025 Link Worker Survey 2025: Understanding what matters to Social Prescribing Link Workers

The survey showed that Link Workers believe that they are making a difference. 98% of Link Workers believe their work positively impacts the people they support, while 85% would recommend the role to others. Link Workers enjoyed building meaningful relationships and contributing to their community, and they appreciated the variety and flexibility of their role.  

“Connecting with people every day from different walks of life brings me great job satisfaction and makes me want to get up in the morning.”  

“It is humbling to work with people as equals - to earn their trust, restore faith in health provision, and be part of their journey.” 

Link Workers believed that the referrals they made to local services were having a positive impact. The most common referrals they reported were to services addressing financial support, mental health and housing issues, reflecting the complex, interrelated challenges faced by many people they support. 76% of Link Workers said that they “very often” referred people to these Information and Advice services.  

They felt that information and advice services, physical activities and age-related activities were the most effective at supporting people. The most common impact they saw on clients was the influence of social prescribing on social connections.   

However, many Link Workers also reported high caseloads and that many of the people referred to them had complex needs that were difficult to address. 

They also identified barriers to making referrals. These included insufficient service provision or long waiting times – especially for mental health, information and advice services. Other barriers included people not wanting to attend activities, perceived costs, lack of awareness of availability and compilated referral processes (particularly for healthcare).  

“[There are] Increasing volumes of referrals to social prescribing, increasing complexity of cases, so it’s difficult to close cases.”  

“Onward services are often unavailable, especially in mental health. We even receive referrals from mental health teams, but there are still significant service gaps.”  

Although awareness of social prescribing has grown, some Link Workers still believe that some colleagues do not fully understand or value their role. 62% of Link Workers agreed that the wider primary care team valued their role, but 15% disagreed. A quarter of link workers felt that the primary care team did not understand their role.  

Link Workers believed that a lack of understanding of the role could result in inappropriate referrals or effective support not being put in place. This was a key area that Link Workers wanted to improve about their role.  

“[A challenge I face is...] Convincing GPs that social prescribing is a crucial service that helps address the root causes of health issues”

Training, professional development, and supervision were the most common areas Link Workers wanted to improve. 71% of SPLWs wanted to develop specific skills to improve in their role and 52% were interested in pursuing formal qualifications to progress in their career. However, only about two-thirds agreed that they were aware of available training opportunities, while 18% disagreed. 41% currently did not have access to a training budget. In addition, 9% of Link Workers said that they do not receive workplace supervision.  

The results show the importance of ensuring that Link Workers can access a range of training and have sufficient time to prioritise this, as well as regular supervision. Link Workers come from a wide range of backgrounds, and ranked peer support networks and webinars highly as a preferred way to stay up to date - suggesting they value informal, experience-based learning as well as formal training.  

“I’d reduce caseloads so there’s more time for CPD and qualifications. That would enhance the role within the NHS and improve patient outcomes.”