The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2025 is open for entries.

Eighteen category awards are up for grabs this year, for practitioners, teams, leaders, organisations, students and educators in England.

There is one new award this year, for international social work, which has replaced the approved mental health professional (AMHP) gong, which was presented in 2023 and 2024.

The Social Work Awards Ltd, the charity which runs the scheme, said the new award was for “a team or individual who can demonstrate a significant impact in the field of social work on a global scale”.

AMHPs will be eligible to enter the mental health social worker of the year award.

Entries are open until 27 May 2025 and must be submitted through the awards’ online entry system, with submissions judged by a panel of former winners, social workers, leaders and experts by experience.

Shortlisted entries will be announced in August and the winners revealed at a ceremony in October, where one of the category victors will be crowned the overall social worker of the year.

Self-nominations and third-party nominations are permitted and entries must be endorsed by a senior manager or relevant professional to indicate acceptance of the entry rules.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 winners were unveiled at a ceremony in London last week.

The judges selected 18 gold award winners and 19 silver award winners from the over 90 practitioners, students, teams and organisations shortlisted for this year’s prizes.

The overall winner’s prize, along with the children’s team gold award, went to Norfolk council’s people from abroad team, a specialist social work service that supports citizens of other countries, including those with no recourse to public funds, and British nationals returning from abroad.

Organising charity the Social Work Awards said the team’s work in recent years had included supporting families from Afghanistan and Ukraine to settle in the area. Practitioners had also developed their learning, with three social workers qualifying as registered immigration advisers, a role that involves providing people with advice and support on issues such as asylum claims, residence and deportation.

‘They practice with compassion and without judgment’

Sherry Malik, vice-chair of the awards’ board of trustees, said: “The people from abroad team provide a vital service for families and individuals fleeing their own countries and arriving here in circumstances none of us could ever imagine ourselves in.

“They support them to rebuild their lives, step by step – from accommodation to language needs, from schools for the children to getting to know the area and to settle in the community. They do it with compassion, kindness and without judgment and in creative ways with diminishing resources. Their work truly deserves this accolade.”

The team said: “We love what we do because the people we work with are amazing, they’ve overcome adversity, and it makes us go that extra mile for them.

“We see people at their most vulnerable and we work to get them to a point where they no longer need us and can fly the nest. What is most important to us is empowering people to gain their independence and we know that we’ve done our best and we’ve made enough change that they won’t come back into the service.”

The lifetime achievement gold award went to Susan Banyard, who retired recently from her role as a social worker in children’s services at West Sussex council after a career in the sector lasting more than 30 years.

Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 lifetime award gold winner Susan Banyard, pictured with Vava Tampa (left) and Janati Champaneri (right), from headline sponsor BASW England, and journalist and awards presenter Ashley John-Baptiste (credit: Social Work Awards)

Posthumous award for lecturer-practitioner

The approved mental health professional of the year gold award was given, posthumously, to Dr Matt Simpson, who was senior lecturer at Bournemouth University and an AMHP for Wiltshire, who died in January this year.

He was described as “a much-loved colleague, manager and teacher” and “truly an exemplary AMHP”, said the Social Work Awards.

Other winners included the Anti-Racist Movement (ARM), a collective that provides a dedicated space for black female practitioners to discuss their experiences of social work, including in relation to racism. The group won the gold award in the social justice advocate category.

A safe space for black female social workers

In an article published on Community Care earlier this year, its founder, Shantel Thomas, said: “Women, especially black women, tend to hold on to their trauma internally and there wasn’t a safe space to express that without having to explain and apologise or try to compensate.”

New this year was an award for practitioner-led research, open to those who had carried out research or helped build a research culture within their organisations.

The gold award for this went to Anna Bouch, professional education consultant in Brighton & Hove Council’s adult social care team, who, according to the judges, “truly embodies the qualities of an outstanding social work researcher

Also new was the technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice award, for which the gold winner was TACT Connect, an online community for care experienced young people and adults currently or previously fostered through the agency TACT.

‘Highlighting social workers’ achievements in difficult times’

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England was the headline sponsor for this year’s awards.

National director Maris Stratulis said: “We know that the social work profession faces many challenges with increasing pressures felt by the diverse and unique communities we support. During these difficult times, the role of social work is ever more critical, from upholding rights and challenging injustices, to advocating for fairness and promoting wellbeing.

“That’s why it’s important that, through these awards, we highlight your individual and collective achievements, recognise the exceptional services you deliver for children, families and adults, celebrate the diversity and intersectionality of our profession, and shine a well-deserved spotlight on exceptional social work practice happening across the country.”

“It’s a real honour to highlight the inspiring accomplishments of both individuals and organisations in this often-underappreciated field,” said Peter Hay, chair of trustees at the Social Work Awards. “Congratulations to all of our finalists and winners, and a heartfelt thank you to our sponsors for making these awards possible.”

The finalists for the Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 have been unveiled.

Over 90 practitioners, students, teams and organisations have been shortlisted across 18 categories for the annual awards, which are designed to celebrate high-quality practice, practice education, leadership, teamwork, innovation, research, teaching and advocacy within social work.

They were chosen by a panel of judges independent of the organising charity, the Social Work Awards Ltd, including previous award winners, social workers, sector leaders and people with lived experience of social work.

‘Inspirational achievements of an over-looked profession’

The chair of the Social Work Awards, Peter Hay, said: “This year we received hundreds of entries which goes to show how passionate organisations and individuals are to shine a light on the inspirational achievements of an often-overlooked profession.

“We would like to thank all those who took the time to nominate a friend, colleague, or team for an award this year. To our finalists, we’d like to say congratulations! Being nominated for a national award, whilst supporting others during very challenging times in a year of big changes, is a remarkable achievement of which you should be very proud.”

The category winners, along with an overall social worker of the year, will be announced at a ceremony in London in November 2024.

Social Worker of the Year Awards finalists

Social work student of the year 

University social work lecturer of the year

Newly qualified adult social worker of the year

Newly qualified children’s social worker of the year 

Practice educator of the year 

Team of the year, adult services (including multidisciplinary teams)

Team of the year, children’s services (including multidisciplinary teams)

Supportive social work employer 

Team leader of the year, adult services

Team leader of the year, children’s services

Technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice award

Practitioner-led research award

Social justice advocate award 

Mental health social worker of the year

AMHP (approved mental health professional) social worker of the year 

*Dr Matt Simpson has been nominated posthumously. He died in January 2024, after a short illness.

Adult social worker of the year 

Children’s social worker of the year

Lifetime achievement award 

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

For our 50th anniversary, 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.

Photo by Daniel Laflor/peopleimages.com/ AdobeStock

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by either:

• Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
• Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

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

In 2023, Jane Dunne was named the children’s services team leader of the year for her work with the Coventry and Warwickshire family drug and alcohol court service (FDAC).

This was not her first award since becoming manager of the then Coventry FDAC in 2016, with the team winning the public sector children’s team prize at the 2018 Children & Young People Now awards.

In 2021, the service’s success led to its expansion to cover Warwickshire.

Speaking to Community Care, Jane discussed why she believes FDACs are a better alternative to standard care proceedings, her approach to leading a multidisciplinary team and the risks to FDAC teams from constraints on public spending.

How did you become involved with the FDAC service?

Jane Dunne with the rest of her FDAC team / Photo by Jane Dunne

The service started in October 2015, and I joined in March 2016. I’d always been interested in the interaction between substance misuse and volatile relationships, and how that impacts on an individual’s mental health.

Then a secondment came up for six months to manage the Coventry FDAC service, because we only had temporary funding at that point.

I haven’t looked back. I remember thinking, “My goodness, I only had this for six months and now I’m here eight years later”.

One of the things that stood out to me was that it was a multidisciplinary team. We had a clinical lead, two substance misuse workers, a parenting officer, a children and family worker and three social workers, including a domestic abuse practitioner.

Everybody had their own expertise, but when I joined they were working in silo. I wanted to have a sense of identity as a team and to centre that around improving outcomes for children.

We did a lot of team development and broadened our knowledge and skills. We’ve all learned so much these last few years.

What makes an FDAC a better alternative to standard care proceedings?

In normal proceedings, when a case comes to the court, various assessments are ordered. But the results usually come in closer to the end of proceedings.

So if the hair and blood tests come in and they’re high in alcohol levels, then there is nowhere for the parents to go to demonstrate change because that’s their evidence. And they are expected somewhat to do everything on their own.

FDAC provides that level of scaffolding at a time when they need it. We offer an initial assessment with the experts – and we’ve got all the experts, so they don’t have to join long waiting lists.

The work is trauma-informed, it’s relationship-based. So everybody in the team tries, from the minute you meet the parent, to make them feel as comfortable as possible and build a rapport to support them.

We’re a consistent team. We see [the parent] two or three times a week. A children’s social worker might see them once a week for a parenting assessment in usual proceedings.

At the beginning of the trial, we do a peth test for alcohol consumption and an overview hair strand test of all six drugs [cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine, methamphetamine, opiates, benzodiazepines] because we know that parents are often frugal with what’s going on for them. They might say [they’ve taken] a little bit of cocaine and then when you get the hair and blood tests back it might be crack cocaine.

And then throughout the trial, we will do alcohol breath meter, oral swab and urine tests every time we see them. It helps parents reflect that they might have had a difficult week, because we don’t expect them to be progressing straight away. We want to discuss the triggers, thoughts and feelings around that and what we can put in place.

Alongside that, we’re looking at their parenting and their child’s needs, we’re running support groups and doing specific interventions. We try to understand what’s happening underneath and get to the root of the problem, to create long-lasting change.

We also build long-lasting relationships with them. A male parent who’s had his daughter in his care for four years now pops in for a cup of coffee every now and then. We talk about lifelong links for children but, if a parent has opened up to a group of professionals about their difficulties and were supported on their journey, it’s powerful to continue that relationship.

If they’re in a crisis in the future, they’ll need somebody to reach out to and some people don’t have anybody.

We are also looking at a permanent plan for the children. Reunification is what we are working towards, but where that is not possible, we look towards care with family or the possibility of reunification in the future.

FDAC has more reunification than in usual proceedings, although it takes a little more time to get there.

What happens within your service if reunification is not possible?

Even if children aren’t reunified, there is an opportunity for parents to still work on their recovery and their parenting.

If a child is put up for adoption, no matter how painful that is, if the parent can understand that they’re not in a position to care for their child, they will often say, “I consent to my child being adopted because I know I can’t meet their needs. It’s not because I don’t love them.”

And they get a lot of support with that within FDAC – it helps change the language of the negative stigma around not being there for your children. We also offer some post support, and, later on, people can still call us for advice.

For example, a young woman we worked with last year contacted me recently and said, “I’m in a new relationship, I’m pregnant, and I need to demonstrate that I’m sober”. So we were able to give her some advice.

What is your approach to managing a multidisciplinary team?

Jane Dunne during a visit to Westminster / Photo by Jane Dunne

I think it’s about shared values, and understanding our limitations and knowledge.

I was terrified of managing the substance misuse worker because of my limited knowledge. I thought I knew quite a lot about drugs and alcohol, but when I came here, I [realised], “Oh my gosh, I know nothing”. It prompted me to study more and get a diploma in substance misuse and addiction.

I’m learning as much from [workers I manage] as they’re learning from me. I wouldn’t say it’s been an easy process – but it’s about furthering your understanding. For example, I developed my learning around cognitive behavioural therapy and trained in motivational interviewing.

I wanted the whole team to take that approach, so we provided training for them. We did a course on foetal alcohol syndrome and foetal alcohol disorder together because, although you’ve got that discipline, you need to layer up your knowledge and skills base – whether you are the children and family worker, the team manager or the clinical lead.

They also know they are safe to come to me; I’ve got their backs. I think most of my team are comfortable reaching out if they’re struggling.

As a manager, if I need to do casework because we’re struggling, then I’ll do that. But I’ll also do the supervision, the advocacy in the court, the strategic stuff.

I don’t see my role as just being one thing. It’s whatever it takes to keep the service going so that families have the best experience and that people feel safe to work.

Does the limited number of FDAC teams put pressure on you?

We have 13 FDAC teams now – we recently lost Kent and Cardiff – and there is an awful lot of pressure around funding and continuing the service.

We’ve been in a very fortunate position, where Coventry could see the benefit of this model and the cost avoidance. Although it might be expensive to set up and deliver, there is an acute saving in the long run.

But local authorities are under a lot of pressure. Many of my FDAC colleagues up and down the country have really struggled, hence the closures.

The judiciary really appreciates this model. They’d like to see it in every court, so it’s not just a postcode lottery and that’s fantastic. But it’s not funded.

Currently, funding comes from different sources. Our current expanded team was setup through a Department for Education grant and is currently funded by Coventry and Warwickshire local authorities.

We are fortunate to have the domestic abuse social worker role funded by the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner, but overall the funding is reviewed every two years for the team.

Other teams may have health or public health funding too; it depends on how it was set up.

So what I’d like to see is core funding, so that managers can focus on the service delivery and not worry about whether our service will last another six months or two years. That’s the fragility and reality of it.

What are your goals moving forward?

My goal is to secure the funding for this service moving forward and improve on the offer that we give parents within proceedings and post-proceedings. Because at the end of the proceedings, when children are reunified, parents need support. It’s a time that might test your recovery and your parenting.

The best way for that is through having robust support around them, but also peer support. So that’s families and parents that have been through FDAC problem-solving together, having a community where they can support each other.

My hope would be to have that as part of the programme because many other sites do, but we’ve never had the funding. We manage a graduates’ group, but this is on frugal basis.

What has been a highlight of running this service?

The “graduates”. I think it’s such an achievement when parents come through proceedings and successfully reunite with their children.

We do a little graduation ceremony. We invite them back and they get a certificate and a card from us and the FDAC judge to say, “Well done”. We often buy or make cakes and we have a little celebration.

One parent, who I knew as a child when I was a social worker and was quite a challenging man and had a whole life of criminality, said in his graduation ceremony, “Wow, this is an achievement. I’ve always sat in court. I’ve never been invited to a court.”

For him, it was huge.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England has become the headline sponsor of the Social Worker of the Year Awards for the next three years.

BASW England takes over from recruitment consultancy Sanctuary, which had been headline sponsor since the awards were relaunched in 2011 under charity the Social Work Awards Ltd and sponsored the previous version of the scheme in 2010. Also, Sanctuary’s chief executive, James Rook, was a trustee for the awards charity from 2011 to 2021.

But the recruitment consultancy’s latest agreement as headline sponsor came to an end on 31 March 2024, so the Social Work Awards took expressions of interest for the position from other organisations.

The awards’ 2023 sponsorship pack outlined terms for the headline sponsor, which includes sponsoring the overall social worker of the year award and one additional category, along with publicity on the awards website and other publications and communications, in return for a £22,000 contribution.

The Social Work Awards said the majority of these terms still applied.

BASW England has a long association with the awards having also been involved in its 2011 relaunch and been its corporate sponsor – the second tier of sponsorship under the scheme – for many years.

The awards charity’s chair of trustees, Peter Hay, said it was “delighted” to expand its long-term relationship with BASW England, saying that the professional body “shares our value of encouraging a culture of reward and recognition in the sector”.

“BASW will support the charity with our aims of promoting best practice, celebrating success, improving public understanding of social work and promoting diversity and equal opportunities in social work,” he added.

BASW England chair Vava Tampa

BASW England chair Vava Tampa said it was “thrilled” to become the awards’ headline sponsor.

“This is a unique and important opportunity to showcase and celebrate the exceptional work of social workers and the very positive impact they make,” he added. “The awards are also key in building wider positive understanding of the profession and an inspiration for the next generation of social workers.”

The 2024 awards opened for entries last week, with 18 categories up for grabs, including a new award for practitioner-led research. Entries are open until 12pm on 3 June 2024.

The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 have opened for entries.

Eighteen categories are up for grabs this year in the England-based scheme, alongside the overall social worker of the year prize.

New this year is an award for practitioner-led research, which is open to social workers and managers who have carried out research or helped build a research culture within their organisations.

Organising charity Social Work Awards Ltd has also replaced the previous digital transformation in social work category with one for technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice.

This is for social workers, teams or local authorities who have sought to improve the lives of people with lived experience through the use of technology.

Meanwhile, the charity has dropped the previous supporting children in education prize.

Entries are open until 12pm on 3 June, after which entries will be shortlisted by the awards’ judging panel of social work experts, people with lived experience and former winners.

You can enter the awards here and read the entry rules here. The full list of categories is below:

• Children’s social worker of the year
• Adult social worker of the year
• Newly qualified children’s social worker of the year
• Newly qualified adult social worker of the year
• Team of the year, children’s services
• Team of the year, adult services (including multidisciplinary teams)
• Team leader of the year, children’s services
• Team leader of the year, adult services
• Mental health social worker of the year
• Approved mental health professional (AMHP) of the year
• Social work student of the year
• Practice educator of the year
• University social work lecturer of the year
• Practitioner-led research award
• Technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice award
• Supportive social work employer
• Social justice advocate of the year
• Lifetime achievement award

When speaking to Elaine James, her passion for upholding the rights of people with learning disabilities is almost infectious.

This is also evident in her accomplishments as the head of service for learning disabilities and preparation for adulthood at Bradford council.

In her time there, she has been instrumental in minimising long-term detentions of people with learning disabilities under the Mental Health Act 1983.

And last year, she was named the social justice advocate of the year at the Social Worker of the Year Awards for her work championing the rights of people with learning disabilities to vote.

Social Worker of the Year Awards judges said she has significantly increased the likelihood of people participating in an election through her work on the Promote the Vote initiative.

Speaking to Community Care, Elaine opened up about her biggest influences, misconceptions about supporting people with learning disabilities and how leaders can help social workers facilitate change.

Can you tell me about your work with Promote the Vote?

We started Promote the Vote in 2015, to support adults with learning disabilities to vote.

If you can own your own life, then you have to deeply believe that you have a right to describe how your life should be. Nowhere is that more compromised than with young people and adults with learning disabilities. Their view is questioned because of a label that was put on them.

I felt strongly that our role as social workers was to look at what’s the biggest decision that somebody can be involved with. Well, there’s no bigger decision than who gets to run the country.

You can register to vote from 17 and that’s something that marks a passage from being a child. As a child, you have a bedtime. As an adult, you get to vote.

With colleagues’ help, I’ve gathered evidence to show that, when social workers talk to these people about their rights, they’re more likely to do something about it because they feel they’ve got support.

Elaine James promoting the right to vote in Bradford

In the services that I manage now, we’ve worked with local user groups who were campaigning about this issue long before we woke up to it. We now make it a central part of transition planning that we support a young person to understand their right to register from 17, what reasonable adjustments they can lawfully request and how to gain a local voter passport [setting out their voting needs].

There are amazing things you can do that you don’t know you can do – right up to supporting people in the polling booth and assisting them in making the marking.

Where did your passion for upholding the rights of people with disabilities come from?

Some of it is family. Questions had been asked when some family members were children about why they were a particular way. But does it matter? Can’t we just adapt around a child?

In my extended family, we also have someone who spent about 10 years in an assessment and treatment unit [a mental health hospital for people with learning disabilities or autism] and had experienced being in a seclusion room.

And then, throughout my career, I’ve spent time with people who really impacted me. Mark Neary and his son, Steven, were a big influence.

In 2011, lawyers used the Human Rights Act to help Steven challenge an unlawful Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisation.

But when Mark talked to me about Steven, it was the small things I found more upsetting than some of the big abuses. There is a story about how important it was for Steven to have his socks and how the support workers disrupted what was a really important routine for him. The impact on Stephen was really powerful, it honestly made me cry.

I thought I could genuinely make a difference there, I could make sure that doesn’t happen to somebody else.

I’m also really lucky to call professor Sara Ryan a friend. Sara’s son, Connor Sparrowhawk, was 18 when he drowned under the care of the NHS.

Sara and Mark have managed to channel these extraordinary experiences of abuse and outcomes of willful neglect and somehow want to work positively with the social work profession to help us be better. I’m not sure I could do that.

As a social justice advocate, where do you think activism fits within social work?

An amazing university colleague, Hannah Morgan, organises a conference every two years with disabled people who are scholars in their field.

Talking to them, I realised they weren’t asking for us to do what I thought they would, which was about being supportive. What they were saying is, ‘Look, we want you to be more disruptive than that’.

They wanted allyship and allyship is quite an active word. It’s actively doing something different to disrupt the status quo.

[They wanted us to] push to disrupt, choose to work differently, to change how you think support is assessed or framed and what the purpose of that is. We are there to enable supported decision making.

We are not there to safeguard by wrapping people in forensic cotton wool, we are there to safeguard rights.”

Anybody can just fill out a form and the outcome from that is day care, respite, home care or residential care. It’s one of the easiest things to do in social work. You can fill those forms in within an hour. It’s not what social work is though.

Social work is the grey space in the middle, the bit that’s far less defined. That’s the space that social workers need to learn and occupy.

How can leaders support social workers trying to facilitate change?

I think every local authority needs a Mental Capacity Act lead working with the adults’ principal social worker to look at putting risk enablement frameworks around decisions.

So, when practitioners are making decisions that involve the least restrictive plans and there’s pressure on them, there is a framework with access to good quality adult social care legal services that can offer advice.

Practitioners need the best. They can’t do quality work if they can’t log on, find a desk or have to sit alongside colleagues listening to highly intimate personal conversations while they’re trying to ascertain information to scope out safeguarding concerns.

And there needs to be an honest view of workloads. Children’s caseloads are consistently said to be 15 to 16. In adult social work, my experience is that our caseloads are higher than that and growing.

There needs to be an open conversation about how much pressure can you genuinely put particular teams under.

What would you say are some misconceptions about working with people with learning disabilities?

The concern usually is, ‘How do you know what the person wants?’. But I’ve yet to meet a person who couldn’t in some way express to me their views and wishes.

For example, the social work manager at my service once worked with somebody who had a disability and had had a profound stroke. They didn’t speak in English and could only communicate through blinking.

All practical steps were taken to enable a bilingual speech and language professional to help communicate their right to choose where they ended their life. They wanted to be at home.

There is always a way to enable supported decision making if you are creative enough and you have access to enough resources.

Additionally, I think, learning disability is becoming a field where anybody who doesn’t meet a threshold for mental health services is supported.

The service that I manage is increasingly a service for adults who don’t have enduring mental health conditions. It’s a really exciting field to practise in because you’re working with people where the slightest reasonable adjustment can help.

It doesn’t have to be a lifetime of day care or home care or peers following them around all the time. Social work is the intervention – helping them form relationships, optimise their income, secure a place to live that feels safe, plan for a future.

What has been a defining moment in your career?

I have always been concerned about why so many people with learning disabilities and autism are trapped in hospital.

I’m really proud of the fact in Bradford we turned that around by lending our professional weight behind the views of the parents, who’ve argued and advocated strongly for those young people. In the last year, we haven’t had any long-term detentions under the Mental Health Act. I’m proud of that.

We’ve got nearly everybody home who we set out to get home. Each one of those is a really powerful story, but they’re not my story to tell.

There is also a young person whom children’s services were concerned about having a disability or neurodiverse condition.

She had been in the pupil referral unit as a result and was referred to us to help her a day service and other support with daily living. That’s not what she wanted. She wanted a job.

So, we found her a job in the council. She’s part of my team and goes out across the district to meet other people with learning disabilities. She has a questionnaire that she’s devised and she interviews those we support about the quality of our social work and whether their lives are better or whether there’s anything else that we need to do.

In the last year, she’s spoken to over 80 people with learning disabilities. Their answer is, no, there’s more we need to do to help people live better lives. To do that, we need to be better.

She is a real inspiration to me because things are just a little bit harder for her.

What lessons have you learned working alongside her?

However much I think I’ve made an adjustment to make things more accessible in terms of language, it’s not enough. There are more things I can do. It’s a reminder that I need to keep reading and learning.

She also teaches me daily that, if I explain something we’re doing in commissioning land and she doesn’t get it, it’s wrong.

The stuff commissioners are arranging which aim to make her life better – if she doesn’t get it, then it can’t be right, can it?

So that’s important to me that I don’t let my ideas dominate.  It’s her life, so the ideas need to come from her about what being better means to her.

She also taught me that there can never be enough chocolate in the office!

Meera Spillett thought her career was over when she became disabled overnight in 2006.

Unable to walk, she was also living with multiple conditions, one of which prevented her from taking painkillers to soothe her flare-ups.

However, within four years she had achieved her dream of becoming a director of children’s services.

Then, when her health forced her to retire at 44, she launched the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI) with the Staff College, which has since helped countless black and Asian leaders overcome barriers to progress within their organisations.

For this, Meera won the lifetime achievement award at the 2023 Social Worker of the Year Awards.

Speaking with Community Care, Meera opened up about her time in care, being a disabled practitioner, her influences as a social worker and her work on anti-racist practice.

What experiences have influenced your approach to social work?

My life and my career are inextricably linked. I was taken into care as a baby and adopted by my second foster parents before I was one. My first foster carers gave me the name Meera.

Decades later, I accessed my file and it was just very thin, full of rejection letters as to why they couldn’t take me in. It didn’t name them, so I’ve never met the person that called me Meera.

Luckily, my family got as much information as they could out of my social worker so I had an idea of what had happened.

When I looked at my file, I became more passionate about telling our children why we’ve taken them. I promoted comprehensive case recording so that, when children accessed their files, they understood their story.

I was also labelled as remedial in school – now we’d say SEND – and that stayed with me. To illustrate that, it wasn’t until I got my second degree that I thought, ‘Okay, I’m not remedial’.

We label people in social work and other places too quickly sometimes and we don’t see the harm that that can do and the confidence it erodes.

What has been your ambitions during your career?

My ambition has always been to make a difference in people’s lives. That was why I moved up and around in organisations.

I’ve always been interested in how social workers work alongside those outside their organisation, and how to make the most of that.

After working as a team manager for a couple of years, I became a planning and contracts manager before taking on the role of service manager at [the London Borough of] Newham.

I wanted to learn what other parts of children’s services did and to add a social worker’s perspective. And then I thought, ‘What can I learn next?’.

I was fairly laser-focused on what career path I wanted. It’s good to know where you might be heading because it gives you a way of getting there.

In 2006, you became disabled overnight. How did that experience affect you as a social worker?

I was living in a top-floor flat with no lift and I’d had some problems with my knee. Then one day, I came back from work and I couldn’t feel my left leg. I went to the hospital and never came back to that flat. I couldn’t walk up the stairs anymore.

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which means that my antibodies were eating the linings of my joints. It’s a very painful condition that brings flare-ups.

I can only walk a tiny bit on a good day and it was hard trying to get my head around that. There were lots of tears and anger.

I almost gave up on my dream of being a director of children’s services for a bit, until I decided to work through it.

I was off for about eight months, learning how to manage my disability and regaining my confidence. And, in 2010, I was appointed director of children’s services in Oxfordshire till 2011, when I retired.

How did you deal with the hurdles that came with being disabled?

I’ve got seven long-term health conditions that fight with each other. I can’t take painkillers due to one of them, so I’ve learned to manage the pain with mindfulness. I always try to look at my life as a glass half full, but, don’t get me wrong, sometimes the glass is smashed on the floor.

At the time, I was working at Norfolk Council and they were very proactive because they wanted me back. But there were accessibility problems.

I used to cry or get angry about it. So I started to carry a camera and take photos of where I couldn’t get in and where the problems used to be.

I made a PowerPoint and sent it to the chief executive and things were changed – not just for me but for others in the council and the community. It was my way of regulating my feelings.

I had a scooter so that I could get around, a desk to sit and twizzle so I didn’t have to move during meetings and voice-activated writing. They were also very flexible about difficult mornings.

Following your retirement, you set up BALI. How did that come to happen?

Meera Spillett with her Social Worker of the Year awards trophy

There weren’t many directors who looked like me and there wasn’t a place where black and Asian people could go to have a training session that just included black and Asian people. So myself, Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE and the late Patrick Scott developed BALI.

Part of the programme was based on our experiences and strategies for action. Unfortunately, a decade later, I still hear similar types of people saying similar issues are happening to them.

If you are black, there are pressures put on you. We have this saying about whether you are a black leader or a leader who happens to be black. If you’re a black senior leader, there’ll be expectations. Some will say you’re a diversity pick.

So, part of BALI is getting black and Asian social workers ready to survive, challenge the status quo and thrive. It’s great to see now several directors who’ve done BALI and there are many more talented ones in the pipeline.

Were there personal experiences that inspired BALI?

I’ve been exposed to racism since I was young and I’ve always been vocal. I’m passionate about everybody understanding that some people are discriminated against because of their skin colour.

When I was an inspector, I had a joint inspection with other services and the organisation we were visiting had a racism issue. I was the only global majority person and, as we walked in to see the chief executive, one person pointed to me and said to the lead inspector, “Your secretary can wait here”.

Let’s face it, we know that black practitioners are more likely to have fitness to practise reviews and they’re often turning to agencies because the environment they’re in is racist.

We need white leaders to look at their culture because they still try and talk it down. At some point, everyone was telling their stories but has anything happened? No. So why did I bare my soul? I find that quite traumatic when nothing’s changed.

You’ve been an ally but you need to be an accomplice. That means you don’t sit back and go ‘I might say something to someone about that’. We need you to pull your sleeves up and get in there.

What lessons have you learned from your social work career?

It is about social justice. When everybody dived into equality, diversity, and inclusion, I kept saying no, you want another E there and that’s equity. I’m sure you’ve seen the photo of the kids standing on boxes to try and see over the fence. You need to give the little kid a few more, that’s equity.

If it was an anti-racist response, then you’d take the fence down. We need to do that. We need to be intentional about how we tackle racism.

Another lesson was work-life balance – I wasn’t very good at it. I put my heart and soul into work and my body just went nah. You need to build and sustain your resilience, especially when you’re fighting racism.

Get a group of people that you can trust around you. We call them a council of elders at BALI – people that you could turn to for a second opinion. And always keep focused on the people you’re trying to help. Think, if this was your sister or grandpa, would this be good enough?

My final one would be to learn continuously and trust your gut. When I was a new social worker, I had this tricky case and we had to have the police there to remove the baby.

The mother had told me to take the baby, but I had a bad feeling and wanted the mother to put the baby on the pushchair. She insisted I take it from her.

I hesitated but my colleague told me to get on with it and, as he was more experienced, I listened. As soon as I put my hands around the baby’s waist, the person hit me in the face and broke my nose and the baby fell on the floor. So always trust your gut.

Afghanistan-born social worker Omaid Badar, who lived his teenage years in a refugee camp, was the overall winner’s prize at this year’s Social Worker of the Year Awards.

Losing his father and brother as a child because of the war, Omaid had to emigrate to England at the age of 14, seeking refuge.

At last week’s awards ceremony, the Kirklees Council practitioner won the children’s social worker of the year prize and, following a “unanimous decision” from the judges, was crowned overall winner.

Out of 96 finalists, the awards recognised 17 other practitioners, managers, teams and organisations with gold awards and a further 22 as silver award winners.

Also, chief social worker for adults Lyn Romeo, who will retire in January after a decade in the post, received an honorary award for her contributions to social work in a 46- year career.

‘A dream come true’

Omaid was named ‘winner of winners’ just four years after qualifying as a practitioner, during which time he has already taken up roles as a practice educator and on a fostering panel.

He attributed his journey into social work to the positive experience he had had in Bradford’s care system.

Upon winning the overall winner’s award, Omaid called the night “a dream come true”.

“I’ve been exposed to a lot of trauma,” he said. “I’ve overcome it, and I want to help these children overcome their traumas and be the voice that they’ve never been. It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s been an amazing night.”

He later added in a LinkedIn post: “I will continue with my journey to inspire, encourage, motivate and empower youth with my life story and lived experiences – to give them a better start in life, be their voice and advocate for their rights. Thank you for the national recognition.”

‘Everything the profession is about’

He was described by Rob Mitchell, trustee of organising charity the Social Work Awards, as “everything the profession is about when it’s at its best”.

“Omaid’s approach to social work reflects where we all as practitioners aspire to be,” he added.

In a video shown during the ceremony, Kirklees service director Vicky Metheringham said: “If I ever needed a social worker, I’d want it to be Omaid. He has experienced enough hardship to last 10 lives.”

“I was blown away by this nomination,” added another awards trustee, Sherry Malik. “That someone is able to live through so much and still have the capacity and resilience to dedicate their lives to helping others was very humbling to read.

“He has been described by his colleagues and by the people he supports as kind, brilliant, compassionate, dedicated and I can’t say it any better than his manager – ‘I want to bottle what he has and share it with all social workers’.”

‘The very best of social work’

(L-R) Broadcaster and journalist Ashley John-Baptiste with children’s team winner Bridges, from Devon County Council, sponsor representative Amana Gordon and Headline Sponsor Sanctuary Personnel’s CEO, James Rook. (credit: Social Work Awards)

There were two new awards given out at this year’s ceremony, with Kirsten Bingham, from Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust and Hull City Council, honoured as the first-ever approved mental health professional social worker of the of the year.

Bridget Caffrey, from the University of Chester, meanwhile, took home the social work lecturer of the year award, which replaced the university of the year award.

The lifetime achievement award went to Meera Spillett, a former director of children’s services who is now an associate at leadership training body the Staff College. She was recognised “for being a visionary leader with over 35 years’ experience in social work”.

Following the ceremony, Peter Hay, chair of trustees at the Social Work Awards, said: “The awards celebrate the very best of social work. We are so proud of everyone’s achievements. This year we received the most entries ever, over 500, which goes to show organisations and individuals are keen to shine a light on the inspirational achievements of an often-overlooked profession.”

Over 90 social workers, managers, teams and organisations across children’s and adults’ services in England have been shortlisted for this year’s Social Worker of the Year Awards.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London in November.

The finalists were chosen by independent judging panels of social workers, sector leaders and people with lived experience of services, including young care leavers.

This year, there are 18 awards, with Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) of the Year as a new addition, and University Social Work Lecturer of the Year replacing University of the Year.

As in previous years, most of the finalists are, or work for, statutory children’s or adults’ services providers (local authorities, children’s trusts or NHS trusts), with higher education institutions represented in the student and university categories. There are also a few nominations for voluntary or private sector organisations.

Essex County Council is leading the nominations, holding seven shortlist slots, with Suffolk County Council coming in second with six. Anglia Ruskin is the university with the most nominations, with three.

“This year we received the most entries ever which goes to show organisations and individuals are keen to shine a light on the inspirational achievements of an often-overlooked profession,” said Peter Hay, chair of the Social Work Awards.

“We would like to thank all those who took the time to nominate a friend, colleague, or team for an award this year. To our finalists, we’d like to say congratulations! Being nominated for a national award, whilst supporting others during very challenging times, is a remarkable achievement of which you should be very proud.”