The watchdog that monitors Social Work England has written to cabinet ministers to raise concerns over chronic delays to fitness to practise (FtP) cases.

In its latest report on the regulator, covering 2024, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) said Social Work England had failed to meet its standard on the fairness and efficiency of its FTP system, for the third year running. The regulator met all 17 of the PSA’s other standards, in a generally positive review.

Social Work England did not meet the remaining standard (standard 15) because of ongoing delays in completing FTP cases, with no improvement in timeliness during 2024, said the PSA.

Concerns escalated to cabinet ministers

As a result, PSA chair Caroline Corby has written to education secretary Bridget Phillipson and health and social care secretary Wes Streeting to raise its concerns about the situation with them.

While she acknowledged that Social Work England was “taking steps to improve its processes and learn from the delays”, this had not generated improvements.

In separate letters, Corby set out the consequences of the issue to Phillipson and Streeting: “Every stakeholder that we met with for our 2023-24 performance review, and most stakeholders that provided us with written feedback, raised their concerns about this issue.

“For registrants, fitness to practise delays can have a significant impact on their wellbeing and cause financial hardship. For people raising concerns with Social Work England, these delays can mean they are waiting years for a resolution to their concern, which can be particularly difficult where the alleged conduct has had a significant impact on their life.”

Delays at all stages of fitness to practise process

Latest figures show significant delays at all stages of Social Work England’s FTP process:

• Triage: Cases that completed the triage stage in October to December 2024 took an average of 35 weeks to do so, compared with 28 weeks in July to September and 22 weeks in April to June last year. At triage, Social Work England staff determine whether the concerns about the social worker merit investigation.
• Investigation: While the average age of cases that completed the investigations process has fallen steadily, from 68 weeks in January to March 2024 to 60 weeks in October to December last year, the average age of remaining cases rose from 62 to 74 weeks over this time. This compares to a quarterly target of 56 weeks for October to December 2024.
• Case examiner: During October to December 2024, cases took an average of 13 weeks to complete the case examiner process, the same as in the previous quarter and just above the target of 12 weeks. At this stage, pairs of examiners review the investigation report to determine whether the concerns about the social worker could realistically be proved and, if so, whether their fitness to practise could be found to be impaired.
• Final hearings: Social Work England held just five final hearings in October to December 2024, down from 13 in the previous two quarters, and from 64 in April to June 2023. The number of open cases at the hearings stage rose from 386 as of June 2024 to 421 at the end of last year.

Causes of delay 

The causes of the delays are multiple, including the regulator receiving higher than expected numbers of FTP concerns since its inception in 2019 and having cases delayed by family court proceedings.

More recently, it has struggled to adequately staff its triage and investigations teams and has had to reduce the number of hearings it holds due to lack of budget.

The PSA cited action that Social Work England had taken in response, including piloting having two-person, rather than three-person, panels, to increase capacity to conclude more hearings, and reviewing adjournments in hearings to identify opportunities to prevent future breaks in proceedings.

The regulator was also providing more support to investigators to help them progress their most complex cases, while having case examiners share learning with investigators to prevent adjournments being necessary at the case examiner stage, said the PSA.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

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Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Performance ‘comparable to worst performing regulators’

However, the watchdog, which also oversees nine health professional regulators, stressed that these actions had not led to improvements in the timeliness of cases, where Social Work England’s performance was currently “comparable to the worst performing regulators in this area”.

In its report, the PSA referenced a joint statement made by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), Social Workers Union (SWU) and UNISON in May 2025 raising concerns about the impact of FTP delays on the social workers concerned.

In response to the PSA report, SWU general secretary John McGowan said: “It has been almost a year since SWU, BASW, and UNISON jointly wrote to Social Work England to express our deep concerns about the regulator’s ongoing and increasing delays in processing fitness to practise cases.

“Since that time, the PSA has concluded that Social Work England has not improved performance in this area, its hearing stage backlog has continued to grow, and many people are rightly still raising concerns about how long the process is taking.

Social workers ‘experiencing stress beyond belief’

“The 421 social workers in England with open cases at the end of 2024 deserve better support than this and it is a shame that the regulator has been classified by PSA as ‘comparable to the worst performing regulators in this area’.

“No matter the outcome of their cases these social workers are experiencing stress beyond belief.

“I hope this report convinces Social Work England to continue with their engagement with the four asks in our joint letter to improve their fitness to practises process.”

These were: ensuring investigations were more “collaborative and thorough”; providing case examiners with updated guidance and training, to help them take account of contextual factors in their decisions; developing alternative outcomes for social workers who have been awaiting a hearing for years, and adopting a “more reasonable approach” to the voluntary removal of social workers subject to FTP processes from the register.

Social Work England ‘has plans for improvement’

Giving the regulator’s response to the PSA report, Social Work England chief executive Colum Conway said: “While timeliness in our fitness to practise process continues to be a challenge, we do have a pathway to achieving standard 15 which requires additional funding over time.

“The delays in case progression are unacceptable for us and for everyone involved.”

A spokesperson for the regulator added: “Plans and actions are already in place for improvement, and more details will be published in our business plan for 2025 to 2026.”

Fee rise ‘should enable more resource for fitness to practise’

In relation to increasing funding, Corby told Phillipson and Streeting that Social Work England’s proposed 33% increase in practitioner fees from September “should enable it to devote more resources to fitness to practise”.

The Social Work England spokesperson said that “the additional income from any potential fee increases would support us to deliver all our regulatory objectives and goals with a focus on improving timeliness in our fitness to practise process”.

However, McGowan warned that SWU members were concerned that the regulator was “now considering passing the cost of improvement attempts along to social workers – a workforce already strained by over a decade of budget cuts, ongoing recruitment and retention issues, and the cost-of-living crisis”.

The fee increase will only boost Social Work England’s overall level of income if it is not offset by reductions in DfE grant.

Shifting balance of income from government to social worker

Social Work England’s justification for the increase is to shift the balance of income it receives towards social workers and away from the DfE, whose share rose from 52% to 57% from 2020-21 to 2023-24 to help the regulator deal with rising fitness to practise costs.

The spokesperson added: “Our budget is overseen by the Department for Education and is typically agreed annually, including the level of grant in aid, with no capacity to hold funds in reserve over multiple years.

“We continue to work with our sponsor, the Department for Education, to review our overall resourcing needs. We anticipate that our overall level of income will continue to be determined in this way.”

Social Work England’s watchdog has praised improvements in the speed of its response to overseas practitioners seeking to register to work in the country.

The comments came in a generally positive report on its performance in 2024 by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), which monitors Social Work England and nine health professional regulators.

For the second year running, Social Work England met 17 of the 18 standards it was assessed against, covering its general processes, approach to registration, oversight of social work education and fitness to practise (FTP) system.

The exception was standard 15, on the fairness and efficiency of its FTP process, which it did not meet for the third year running, due to chronic delays in processing cases*.

Sharp rises in overseas applications and processing times

The number of applications from overseas social workers applying to register in England annually almost trebled from 2020-23, from 659 to 1,866.

This triggered a sharp increase in the time Social Work England took to process cases, from less than 10 days on average for most of 2021, to over 50 days in 2023.

The regulator met the relevant standard (11) in the PSA’s 2023 performance review. However, the watchdog said then that, though the regulator was taking “reasonable steps” to address the issue, it expected to see performance improve.

Watchdog praises faster handling of overseas cases

The number of overseas applications fell by 19% to 1,520 in 2024, and, after peaking at 75 days in March 2024, the average handling time fell to less than 25 days in every month from August to December of last year.

“Whilst it is likely that the decrease in the volume of applications contributed to this, it also seems likely that the action taken by Social Work England has significantly contributed to this improved performance,” said the PSA, in its 2024 report.

This included updating guidance for overseas applicants, making the process more efficient, increasing resources for the relevant team and meeting with councils recruiting overseas to gain insight into their processes, said the watchdog.

Equality, diversity and inclusion standard

The PSA also praised aspects of Social Work England’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion (standard 3), highlighting, in particular, the role of its National Advisory Forum, which comprises experts by experience and social workers.

The PSA said that the forum “co-produces a significant amount of work with Social Work England” and its role underlined the regulator’s commitment to co-production.

It also positively highlighted the fact that Social Work England had eight different equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) related themes for categorising corporate feedback or complaints. When these were identified, the information was shared with the head of EDI, and any actions or learning monitored by the internal quality and improvement team.

Rachel Meade case

The PSA review was the first to take place since an employment tribunal found Social Work England had committed a “serious abuse of power” in allowing its FTP processes to be “subverted to punish and suppress” social worker Rachel Meade’s protected gender critical beliefs.

After finding the regulator had harassed Meade on account of her beliefs through the FTP process, the tribunal imposed exemplary damages on it, a measure generally designed to  “punish conduct that is oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional”.

It also recommended training in freedom of expression and belief for Social Work England’s fitness to practise staff, which the regulator said it would implement, alongside other measures designed to respond to the tribunal’s findings.

Social Work England’s response to concerns 

Following the case, the PSA said it would monitor how Social Work England responded to the judgment. In its 2024 report, it said Social Work England had “explained what it is doing to address the concerns raised with it”, in relation to the Meade case and the issue of FTP delays.

“Its response appears reasonable and we will continue to monitor its progress,” the PSA added.

As such, it said the regulator had met standard 4, which involves “[addressing] concerns identified about it and [considering] the implications for it of findings of public inquiries and other relevant reports”.

Regulator aiming to meet all standards

In response to the report, Social Work England chief executive Colum Conway said: “We are confident in our performance and have once again met 17 out of 18 of the Standards for Good Regulation.

“However, we know this is not good enough and will never be good enough until we meet all 18 standards.

“While timeliness in our fitness to practise process continues to be a challenge, we do have a pathway to achieving standard 15 which requires additional funding over time. The delays in case progression are unacceptable for us and for everyone involved.”

*Community Care will be reporting on the PSA’s verdict on Social Work England’s fitness to practise process separately.

Practitioners have rejected Social Work England’s proposed 33% rise in registration fees, with most saying that the regulator should focus on improving “value for money” instead, in response to a Community Care poll.

The plan, currently subject to a 12-week consultation, would mean fees for joining the register, and for annual renewal, would rise from £90 to £120 from 1 September 2025, before rising by a further 1.85% per year up to 2028-29.

The policy is designed to rebalance the regulator’s funding from taxpayers, who have borne a rising share of its funding since 2020, to social workers, whose registration fees have been frozen since 2015.

‘Improve value for money instead’

However, a Community Care poll with almost 2,000 votes, saw social workers objecting to the regulator’s move.

Most respondents (60%) rejected the proposal outright and said that Social Work England should instead “improve value for money”, while one-third believed the increase could only be justified if practitioners’ salaries were considerably improved.

Only 6% called the rise a “good idea”, in the context of the regulator’s struggles to resource fitness to practise cases.

‘A slap in the face for social workers’

The comments under the related article painted a picture of equally strong opposition, with many readers highlighting the lack of meaningful pay rises for social workers in recent years.

“This is really unfair, considering we haven’t had a pay rise in a long time,” said one practitioner.

“The work continues to get harder and more complex, including increased caseloads [and] less management support. Increasing the registration fee from £90 to £120 per year is just another slap in the face for social workers, who are already struggling to make ends meet.”

Joy called the move ‘unfair’, adding: “As a children’s social worker, my wage is small [and has not increased]. Increasing the fee is a big leap.”

‘It just cannot continue as it is’

Another social worker, Louise, believed the regulator’s aim to save taxpayers money would have been better served by improving working conditions for practitioners.

“The pressures of the job are destroying so many social workers and forcing them to quit or work in survival mode,” she said. “This [puts] pressure on other resources and the very people social workers [support] face the brunt of it all. This costs taxpayers even more!

“I would gladly pay the extra fees if Social Work England started to look at why so many social workers are on their knees. Instead of looking at their fitness/capacity to do the job, do something about what is stopping them and making them so disheartened! It just cannot continue as it is!”

‘Tokenistic’ consultation on proposal

A few readers criticised Social Work England’s consultation as “tokenistic”, with Christine Griffith saying the decision “has clearly already been made”.

She was also critical of the regulator for “excessive” delays to fitness to practise hearings and for its decision not to review a sample of practitioners’ continuing professional development submissions following last year’s registration renewal period.

“Each November, we are pressured to finish our continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, yet this year, they weren’t even reviewed!”

Jo M, who has completed Social Work England’s survey on its proposals, suggested CPD requirements should have been included in the consultation.

“I am really angry at this proposal. I work part-time due to caring responsibilities and would like a similar pay rise as pay awards always fall below the cost of living. I would like to know what I’m paying for and perhaps CPD requirements could have been included in the consultation.”

‘Social workers need to take action’

Others were doubtful whether practitioners would take action to oppose the fee increase.

“There is one thing that social workers can do, but won’t do – get organised across the country and mass refuse to pay the increase,” said Jack. “Employers would get involved as they can’t suddenly recruit hundreds of agency workers.”

He added: “I spent over a year on strike…and suffered enormous financial and psychological stress. We believed in the justness of our actions and, though […] previously good relationships were broken, we kept our jobs and nobody was given a negative reference if they chose to leave.”

Crispy added: “Social work enjoys being oppressed. It’s part of our martyr identity. Real-term pay cuts year on year but take one day for industrial action? Absolutely not, no thanks!”

Petition against rise

On the day of the announcement, some social workers launched an online petition calling for the regulator to rescind its proposal, which has received over 2,400 signatures.

While acknowledging the rising costs of fitness to practise cases, the petition organisers urged the regulator to address the “root causes” of these, such as “excessive caseloads, workplace stress, and inadequate support”, rather than “placing the financial burden on social workers”.

You can respond to Social Work England’s consultation survey until 13 May 2025.

Principal social workers (PSWs) have said they are “deeply concerned” about the impact of Social Work England’s plan to raise registration fees by 33%.

The Adult Principal Social Worker Network has warned that the proposal risks increasing hardship for social workers and exacerbating workforce instability and retention problems, in a statement responding to the regulator’s plan.

Proposed fee rises

Under the proposal, issued for consultation last month, the fee to join the register, and to annually renew, would rise from £90 to £120 from 1 September 2025.

At the same time, the free to be restored to the register for practitioners who have left would increase from £135 to to £180, while overseas practitioners would face a £670 charge for scrutiny of their application to register in England, up 35% on the current £495.

All three fees would then rise by 1.85% per year up to 2028-29.

How Social Work England justifies plan

Social Work England’s rationale for the proposals is to take account of the higher-than-expected costs it has faced since becoming the profession’s regulator in 2019.

These excess costs have been borne by the taxpayer – via the Department for Education – with registration fees having remained flat, as they have been since 2015.

According to Social Work England, this was “not sustainable over the longer-term given the significant strain on public finances”.

Widespread criticisms from social workers

The plans have been widely criticised by social workers, across social media platforms and on Community Care, with UNISON also coming out in opposition to them.

Meanwhile, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and Social Workers Union have voiced concerns about the impact on practitioners, in the light of pressures on the cost of living.

These concerns were echoed by the Adult PSW Network, which said: “Social workers are already facing significant financial pressures due to the ongoing cost of living crisis which makes any additional financial burden particularly difficult to manage.

PSWs’ concerns for low-paid and retention

“An increase in registration fees adds to this strain and may disproportionately impact lower-paid social workers.”

It also highlighted the potentially adverse impact on part-time staff, those with caring responsibilities and practitioners working in the voluntary sector.

The network also warned that any fee increase risked “exacerbating workforce instability”, adding: “Social workers already experience high levels of stress and burnout, with financial pressures adding to their reasons for leaving the profession.

“A fee increase could further deter new entrants and push experienced practitioners out of the workforce.”

Some councils cover the costs to practitioners of their annual registration fees, but the network warned that the proposed rise could lead authorities to cease doing so, in the face of “severe financial deficits”.

Network seeks dialogue with Social Work England

The network said it was “committed to working with Social Work England to explore alternative solutions that support the financial sustainability of regulation without disproportionately impacting social workers”.

It said it was seeking dialogue with the regulator in relation to:

• Ensuring that any increase is proportionate, phased and justified, with clear evidence of improved regulatory functions.
• Engaging stakeholders across the sector to consider a universal reimbursement of fees.
• Exploring alternative funding models that do not place the burden solely on individual registrants.

Respond to the consultation

The consultation on the proposals runs until 13 May 2025; you can take part by filling in this survey or emailing consultation.responses@socialworkengland.org.uk, using the subject line, ‘fees consultation’, to answer the following questions:

1. To what extent do you agree that the proposed increases to fees in 2025 to 2026 are reasonable in balancing implications for taxpayers and for social workers?
2. To what extent do you agree that the proposed incremental increases to fees from 2026 to 2029 are reasonable in giving clarity about future fees?
3. Do you think that the proposed changes to the fees could have a positive or negative impact on people with any of the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

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Social workers in England are waiting longer for decisions on whether their fitness to practise (FtP) will be investigated following a referral to the regulator.

Cases that completed the triage stage in October to December 2024 took an average of 35 weeks to do so, compared with 28 weeks in July to September and 22 weeks in April to June last year, according to a report to Social Work England’s board meeting on 31 January this year.

Issues at triage stage

And the number of cases that completed triage per quarter fell significantly over this time, from 350 in April to June to 291 in the last quarter of 2024.

At triage, Social Work England staff determine if there are reasonable grounds to investigate concerns about a practitioner and whether the concerns suggest the social worker’s fitness to practise is currently impaired.

If these tests are met, the social worker’s case is passed on to the regulator’s investigations team to look into, but in most cases they are not. In October to December 2024, 81% of cases were closed at the triage stage.

Increasing caseload

While the average age of the remaining triage caseload fell slightly, from 29 to 28 weeks, in October to December 2024, this was well above the target for the quarter of 16 weeks.

Also, the number of open triage cases rose from 1,070 to 1,110 in the last quarter of 2024. By comparison, at the end of 2023, there were 945 open cases in triage.

The trends have been driven by staffing and management shortages within Social Work England’s triage team.

The regulator recruited six new staff into the team last year in order to boost its capacity. However, it told Community Care that, because of other staff leaving or moving roles, the new recruits were used to replace them, rather than to add capacity.

A spokesperson said that the timeliness of cases had also been affected by the regulator’s “careful management of concerns that reference family court proceedings”, adding that it was “confident that decision-making is high-quality, proportionate and effective”.

Addressing staff and management shortages

The board report said that a new assistant director joined towards the end of 2024, and a new head of service has joined since.

The spokesperson said that, as well having a new senior team in place, the regulator was increasing capacity within the triage service by recruiting more cases officers and an additional triage lead and manager.

“The new management team will be developing longer-term plans to address performance trends seen over the past 12 months,” the spokesperson added.

Length of fitness to practise investigations

The issues at triage come in the context of longstanding challenges in relation to the timeliness of fitness to practise cases at all stages of the process.

While the average age of cases that completed the investigations process has fallen steadily, from 68 weeks in January to March 2024 to 60 weeks in October to December last year, the average age of remaining cases rose from 62 to 74 weeks over this time. This compares to a quarterly target of 56 weeks for October to December 2024.

Social Work England said this reflected “both the time cases are taking to conclude at triage, and several longstanding investigations that are taking time to resolve”. It has also faced staffing and management shortages in the investigations service.

Performance at case examiner stage

During October to December 2024, cases took an average of 13 weeks to complete the case examiner process, the same as in the previous quarter and just above the target of 12 weeks.

At this stage, pairs of staff examine the investigation report to determine whether there is a realistic prospect that concerns could be proved, and if so, whether the social worker’s fitness to practise could be found to be impaired.

It said performance in this area had been affected by about 15% of cases requiring support from the regulator’s legal team, generally in relation to the use of family court information.

Reduced capacity for hearings

An ongoing challenge facing Social Work England has been its reduced capacity – driven by budget constraints – to hold final hearings to determine a social worker’s fitness to practise.

It held just five such hearings in October to December 2024, down from 13 in the previous two quarters, and from 64 in April to June 2023. The number of open cases at the hearings stage has risen from 386 as of June 2024 to 421 at the end of the year.

How long social workers are waiting

The average age of these cases was 176 weeks with the social workers concerned having waited an average of 125 weeks – two years and five months – since they had been referred for a hearing. These figures had risen from 148 and 69 weeks, respectively, a year previously.

At the start of the 2024-25 financial year, Social Work England budgeted to hold just 34 hearings in 2024-25. However, in September last year, it increased this to 81, after identifying additional capacity in its budget following a mid-year review.

The regulator’s spokesperson said that 74 of those had been concluded or listed to be heard before the end of March 2025.

While, 81 remained its target for the year, the spokesperson added that this was dependent on the availability of parties, witnesses and legal resource, which, according to the board report, Social Work England had faced challenges in securing.

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Social Work England has proposed increasing its fees by a third this year, in a consultation launched today.

The proposal is designed to rebalance the regulator’s costs away from taxpayers, who have borne a rising share of its funding since its inception in 2019, while fees for social workers have remained fixed.

However, the move has been criticised by UNISON and the Social Workers Union for exacerbating the cost-of-living pressures facing practitioners.

Planned fee increases

The plan would see fees for joining the register, and for annual renewal, rise from £90 to £120 from 1 September 2025.

At the same time, the fee for restoration for former registrants would rise from £135 to £180, while overseas practitioners would face a £670 charge for scrutiny of their application to register in England, up 35% on the current £495.

These would be the first rises in registration fees in England since 2015, when then regulator the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) increased the annual registration fee from £80 to £90.

Social Work England said the increases were designed to take into account the impact of inflation over the past decade, and would be followed by annual rises of 1.85% in fees up to 2028-29, in line with forecasted price rises.

That would take the initial registration and renewal fees to £127, the restoration fee to £190 and the scrutiny fee to £708.

Why is Social Work England planning to increase fees?

Social Work England’s justification for its proposals is to rebalance the income it receives from social workers and from its sponsoring government department, the Department for Education (DfE).

In 2020-21, its first full year as regulator, it received £9.123m in registration fees – amounting to 48% of its income – and £9.777m (52%) from the DfE.

By 2023-24, the balance had shifted to it receiving 57% from the DfE (£13.2m) and 43% from registrants (£10.09m).

Social Work England said the rise in DfE funding had been “much needed”, to deal with higher than expected costs, including from the number and complexity of fitness to practise (FtP) cases inherited from the HCPC, the volume of new FtP concerns it has received and inflation.

Current position ‘not sustainable’

“We propose that a fee increase is required, to both take account of broader inflation, and to ensure that this balance remains proportionate and fair, for social workers, for those that need their support, and for the taxpayer,” the regulator said.

“To not increase our fees would potentially exacerbate this tension between the taxpayer and social worker fees contributions, and is not sustainable over the longer-term given the significant strain on public finances.”

However, the move was heavily criticised by UNISON, the union with the greatest number of social worker members.

Criticism from unions 

National social work officer Gill Archer said Social Work England had “failed to make the case for such a large increase”, at a time when social workers’ pay was “already failing to match the increased price of food and bills”.

“Hitting staff with an increase like this risks pricing some out of a sector that’s already suffering a recruitment and retention crisis,” she warned.

The Social Workers Union (SWU) was also critical, with general secretary John McGowan saying: “I fully understand the need for any organisation to increase fees but this percentage seems to be extremely large in comparisons with other organisations and regulators; particularly at a time when we are all experiencing the pressures of day to day living.

“It would be terrific if social work salaries were increased at a similar percentage rate but this is never going to happen.”

‘Social workers will be expecting improvements’

For the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), chief executive Ruth Allen said practitioners would be expecting to see improvements from any fee rise.

“Many social workers already face financial pressures, and a sharp fee increase adds to this burden,” she said.

Given that Social Work England is a government body, social workers will question how costs should be shared between government and individual registrants.

“If fees rise, social workers will be expecting improvements, particularly in improved fitness to practice processes. We will consult our members openly and push for a fair outcome.”

Comparison with other regulators 

This year’s rise would bring Social Work England’s annual renewal fee into line with those of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (£120) and the HCPC, whose current rate of £116.36 is due to rise to £123.34 this year.

However, it would be significantly above the annual fees for social workers regulated by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), Social Care Wales (both £80) and the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), whose rate is £65.

Unlike the NMC and HCPC, which both rely upon fees alone for their running costs, but like Social Work England, the SSSC, Social Care Wales, the NISCC and Social Work England are partly government funded.

However, Social Work England said that the other three UK social care bodies regulated other social care roles, alongside social workers, and had different legislative remits to its own.

It also pointed to the fact that the SSSC had recently consulted on increasing its fees, which would see the cost to social workers rise to £88 in 2025-26 and, incrementally, to £120 in 2029-30.

Relief on fees

Some local authorities pay the costs of social workers’ annual registration fees while practitioners for whom the charge is not covered can claim tax relief on their payments.

This applies at the marginal tax rate that practitioners pay (generally 20% or 40%), meaning a basic rate (20%) taxpayer can claim £24 back on the £120 fee they will likely face in 2025-26.

The tax relief can be backdated for four years.

Respond to the consultation

The 12-week consultation on Social Work England’s proposals runs until 13 May 2025.

The regulator is asking for responses to the following questions:

1. To what extent do you agree that the proposed increases to fees in 2025 to 2026 are reasonable in balancing implications for taxpayers and for social workers?
2. To what extent do you agree that the proposed incremental increases to fees from 2026 to 2029 are reasonable in giving clarity about future fees?
3. Do you think that the proposed changes to the fees could have a positive or negative impact on people with any of the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

You can respond by answering this survey or emailing consultation.responses@socialworkengland.org.uk using the subject line, ‘fees consultation’.

Hearing directly from people with lived experience of social care is one of the most powerful and effective ways to learn and reflect on social work practice.

Author, motivational speaker and care leaver Jenny Molloy, in partnership with Community Care Inform, will be sharing her experience of childhood neglect, parental addiction and domestic abuse, in a session at Social Work England’s Social Work Week 2025.

She will discuss the opportunities missed by professionals to help her and how practitioners can intervene more effectively with children today. She will also share the complex trauma arising from her childhood that has lasted long into adulthood.

The session takes place on Wednesday, 19 March 2025, from 1.30pm-2:30pm and you can book your free place now.

About Jenny Molloy and CC Inform

Jenny, writing under the penname Hope Daniels, is the bestselling author of Hackney Child, Tainted Love, Neglected and This Isn’t Love, which was reviewed recently in Community Care.

She is also a practice improvement consultant, who works with several organisations to support positive change in social work, in which capacity she has worked for many years with Community Care Inform, providing learning on topics including neglect, child sexual exploitation and trauma.

Community Care Inform delivers expert-produced practice guidance, in a quick and accessible format, to help social work professionals make and evidence their decisions, through our subscription-based Inform Adults and Inform Children sites.

For information on how we can help you and your team, contact us at ccinformhelpdesk@markallengroup.com or on 020 3915 9444.

Social Work Week

Social Work Week, which runs from 17 to 21 March 2025, is a free programme of events on social work, with other sessions this year covering topics including the future of the profession, artificial intelligence, retention, fitness to practise and social work’s public image.

You can book tickets for individual sessions now.

This article is part of our new ‘Future of Social Work‘ series, where we’ll be reporting on innovative practice approaches and technology driving social work forward. Get in contact with us to flag up anything that you think ticks either of those boxes at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Social Work England has commissioned research to examine how artificial intelligence is affecting the profession, while also hosting a summit on the issue.

The two pieces of research – one of which is a literature review – are exploring how AI is shaping social work practice and education.

The regulator said the purpose of the research was to help it understand:

• The areas of Social Work England’s professional standards that may be affected by social workers’ use of AI in their work.
• The types of AI being used across health and social care in England and their application in social work practice, including the risks of bias and discrimination.
• If social workers feel confident and prepared to use AI ethically and appropriately, in line with Social Work England’s professional standards, and how employers are supporting them to do this.
• How social work education providers are preparing students for AI in their future work.
• Data protection and confidentiality when using AI with people using services and the public.

Summit on AI amid increasing use in social work

The summit with sector leaders, held today (4 February 2025), covered the extent of AI use in social work practice currently, the opportunities it can bring to a relationship-based profession, the risks it carries and the concerns being raised with the profession and the ethical implications, particularly regarding equality, diversity, and inclusion.

The news comes with increasing numbers of councils testing the impact of AI tools on practice, including in helping practitioners save time on recording and summarising case notes and suggesting actions to take following assessments or visits.

About one in five practitioners were using such tools for day-to-day case work as of October 2024, according to a Community Care poll.

Other usages for AI in the sector include supporting student and practitioner learning and predicting future needs for social care.

However, social work bodies have raised concerns about the technology’s impact on the profession, including in relation to the quality and reliability of tools, their susceptibility to bias and discrimination and their implications for the privacy of the people social workers work with.

Government plans to roll out AI in public sector

At the same time, the government is planning to roll out the use of artificial intelligence across the public sector in order to reform services.

The implications of this for social work and social care are as yet unclear, though prime minister Keir Starmer pointed to reductions in the time social workers spent on administration as a benefit of the technology, in launching the government’s AI opportunities plan last month.

In a LinkedIn post, following the summit, Social Work England’s executive director of professional practice and external engagement, Sarah Blackmore, said: While already in use, this is a new area for social workers to get to grips with. We are also keen to develop our knowledge through connecting and working with the experts.

“Holistically, there is real value in the tech and social work sectors working together with the potential for real positive impact on people across the country.”

A recent survey by Social Work England found that, of 2,120 respondents, 75% disagreed that social workers were valued by society.

This is despite previous research for the regulator finding that 74% of around 3,000 adults in England believed social workers wanted the best for people. Of those, 62% felt social workers also made a big difference in people’s lives.

So how accurate is the profession’s view of its public image?

A Community Care poll with close to 800 responses found that most practitioners believed that the majority social work opinion was accurate and the profession really was unvalued by society.

Only 4% said this was not true.

Media portrayals ‘biggest contributor to profession’s image’

This section on Social Work England’s survey also attracted the most free-text responses – 1,462 – the overwhelming majority (88%) of which were negative.

Most respondents also said that the main reason behind society’s low opinion of social work was media portrayals of the profession.

“I think that people grossly misunderstand what social workers do,” said one respondent. 

“Social work definitely has an image problem, which makes our already difficult job much harder. I do blame media representations for this. I have never seen a remotely accurate portrayal of social workers in the media.”

Last year, Social Work England launched a campaign urging TV and film producers to ‘change the script’ on how they depict the profession on the screen.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Do you have a colleague, mentor, or social work figure you can’t help but gush about?

Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone within social work who has inspired you – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

*Please note that, despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry*

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Just one-third of social workers (34%) would recommend the profession as a career, Social Work England has found.

A greater proportion – 42% – would not recommend social work, with the remainder being neutral on the issue, according to the regulator’s first annual survey of the profession.

The online survey, carried out in spring 2024, received 2,120 responses, equivalent to 2% of the registered population in England.

Social Work England quizzed practitioners on their confidence in the regulator, their views on its professional standards, how society valued the profession and whether they would recommend it as a career.

Analysis of free text responses identified that poor pay, overwork and a lack of resources for public services were among key themes behind the relatively low proportion of respondents recommending social work as a career.

‘An amazing job but the workload is too much’

One practitioner said: “Social care is not well resourced, and the work is stressful. It is an amazing job, but the workload is too much. If there were more social workers to meet the demands, it would be a fantastic job. It is not possible to do the work in contracted hours and I don’t get paid for overtime. It’s always difficult to take the time back…”

The regulator also found that those who were less experienced provided more positive comments about social work than more experienced colleagues, while the same was true of those working in adults’ services when compared to children’s services counterparts.

Social Work England also identified that those who felt that society valued social workers were also likely to recommend social work as a career. However, 75% of respondents disagreed that social workers were valued by society, with just 9% agreeing.

This is despite previous research for the regulator finding that 74% of people believed social workers wanted the best for people and 62% felt social workers made a big difference in people’s lives.

‘Social work definitely has an image problem’

This question attracted the most free text responses – 1,462 – the overwhelming majority (88%) of which were negative about society’s valuation of social work, with the biggest perceived contributor being media portrayals of the profession.

“I think that people grossly misunderstand what social workers do,” said one respondent. “Social work definitely has an image problem, which makes our already difficult job much harder. I do blame media representations for this. I have never seen a remotely accurate portrayal of social workers in the media.”

Other respondents, however, said that they did feel valued when working directly with people in a supportive and positive way, but that social workers were less appreciated when they were engaged in safeguarding work.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

We’re expanding our My Brilliant Colleague series to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

Split views on Social Work England

Respondents were split on Social Work England’s impact, with 40% agreeing that it was an effective regulator, 35% responding neutrally and 25% disagreeing.

Neutral or negative responses referenced issues such as the timeliness of fitness to practise cases, for which there is a significant backlog currently due to the regulator lacking the budget to hold sufficient final hearings.

However, the regulator said some responses linked views about Social Work England to wider issues in the profession, such as the insufficiency of practitioners, or revealed a misunderstanding about its role.

For example, some respondents asked for more information on the services, benefits and support it provided to social workers, contrary to its role as a regulator whose fundamental objective is public protection.

Support for professional standards

Social Work England found broad-based support for its professional standards, to which all registered practitioners must adhere. Eighty six per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the standards were important to them, while 90% said they understood how the standards applied to their work as a social worker.

However, practitioners reported challenges in applying the standards due to working conditions and said they needed more support from employers to put them into effect.

“[The standards] are embedded in everything I do day to day,” said one respondent. “Sadly, this is often at odds with the day to day pressures on practice, policies, procedures.”

In response to the results, Social Work England’s executive director of professional practice and external engagement, Sarah Blackmore, said: “It is clear that sometimes there are differing expectations of our role, together with discrepancies as to how social work is viewed by the public and the profession itself.

“The insight of the survey is invaluable for us to learn and keep moving our work forward, while remaining responsive to the sentiment of the profession we regulate.”