What do you think of Social Work England's proposed 33% rise in fees?
- No, they need to improve value for money instead. (60%, 1,192 Votes)
- It's only justifiable if our salaries are increased considerably too. (33%, 659 Votes)
- A good idea, given their resource struggles with fitness to practise cases. (6%, 128 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,979
Loading ...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:
- 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?
- 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?
- 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’.
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Time to retire.
After 30 years as a graduate practitioner, manager, and educator, unfortunately, our whole social care system remains broken and neglected, with successive governments remaining negligent and willfully blind to teh investment and reform required in terms of adult social care. SWE remains part of the problem – simply a ‘mouthpiece’ of government – we’re witnessing the death of a profession!
Just make sure you cancel your direct debit if you do retire! I forgot and SWE took my payment and refused to refund it, even though I would not be renewing on 30/11/2024!
I cancelled my direct debit when I finally decided I could no longer bear to practice as a social worker and obviously did not renew my registration. SWE harassed me for 3 months before they accepted that I was no longer working as a social worker. More concerned with raising revenue than anything else it seems.
An absolute joke consultation without any transparency on how SWE are spending the money they currently receive. SWE cannot be considered to have seriously made a case for such a significant fee increase without this.
Do what the average social worker whose real time wages have gone down has had to do. Find some “efficiencies”.
£90 is expensive enough. What do they use our fees for ? Don’t earn enough for this.
Exactly, what do they actually do. I wouldn’t mind paying if they showed value for money.
Absolutely…
As a children social worker in the local authority, my wage is small and increasing the SWE fee from 90 to 120 pounds is a big leap z which is unfair as my wages has does not increase.
33% increase!!! And this “organisation” is supposed to represent Social Workers who have taken a real terms pay cut year-in, year-out for about the last 14 years. Is it April 1st? What a joke, come on Unison prove your worth!
What has this got to do with UNISON? SWE isn’t an employer, it does not negotiate with unions does it? If social workers think this is unfair it’s up to them to do something about it. But of course as ever with majority of social workers it’s always up to someone else to sort it out. Too busy I suppose.
Unison clearly see it as part of their business as they’ve already made their views known on the matter. Your comment about being too busy is spot on.
UNISON can express an opinion but that is the only thing it can do no power to effect the outcome. It’s like me having a view on the cost of a Greggs vegan bake, interesting, boring, accurate or misinformed in all probability but in actuality of no real consequence. As for being busy like most self justifying claims it surely is in the eye of the beholder.
“Consultation” and they’ll do what they want anyway.
Well of course they will, they are dealing with a passive group so convinced of its own oppression that it is paralysed. Sit back and be ignored.
A cohort that takes pride in being oppressed. Hence the refusal to demand pay rises or back its own unions. We’ll roll over for this just fine as well and have something else to moan about.
Wish I had a 33% pay rise. Not sure what value SWE provide to day to day practice.
Pay more!! It’s outrageously frustrating to see social workers leaving the field due to inadequate or nonexistent pay increases, ongoing recruitment challenges, and a myriad of other issues. Moreover, social workers are facing excessive delays for hearings. Each November, we are pressured to finish our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements, yet this year, they weren’t even reviewed! We need to reinstate the General Social Care Council. As for being invited to discuss this decision, it feels like mere tokenism since the decision has clearly already been made!
It’s diabolical, social workers leaving the industry, no or poor pay rises, recruitment issues the list goes on! Not forgetting that social workers are waiting unnecessary lenghts of times for hearings! Then each November we are under pressure to complete CPD’s, this year they wasn’t even read! Bring back the General Social Care Council… And in terms of being invited to consult on this decision, it’s nothing but tokenism, the decision has already been made!
Are we allowed to see the accounts for SWE and how much the CE and management are earning? Just so I can gain a better understanding of the costs.
You can after a fashion if you read their Annual Report and their Board minutes. Takes some effort mind.
What is it that SWE do for us ? I can never understand what we are paying for, and that’s before an increase .
This is really unfair, considering for a long time we social workers haven’t had a pay rise and for the past 4 years are more they have frozen our pays. Not to mention the work continues to get harder and more complex, including increase caseload along with less management support and less help from admin. Increasing the registration fee from £90 to £120 per year is just another slap in the face for social workers, who is already struggling to make ends meet.
A 33% increase is absolutely outrageous!
I genuinely do not understand what SWE actually do FOR Social Workers!?
In the email received, under the “Reasons for increase”, they say the following…
‘The funding we receive from government and the fees we charge help us to [1] meet our regulatory objectives of promoting and maintaining professional standards, [2] promoting and maintaining public health, safety and wellbeing and [3] ensuring public confidence in the profession.’
Can anyone give an example of [1]? Is this having Social Workers submit our PDP?
Same for [2], what is an example of this?
And [3]… the public generally despise Social Workers, so they’re failing the profession there.
Recruitment and retention are at an all time low, and this increase could price out many potential recruits or force those in practice to leave. Where were SWE fighting for Social Worker pay rises, when all the other professions were fighting (and receiving) theirs?! This is so disappointing.
What do they really do that LAs cannot do? Can they please disclose their wages?
I did a search and found a request that was made to SWE about expenditure. What I found was a lot of push back, excuses, hiding away by using exemptions or wanting astronomical payment for the information. It’s a government led regulatory body, do MPs have to pay a regulatory body, the basic rate for an MP is £91,346, they abuse the expenses system. As much as I have a negative view of what’s going on it USA, I would welcome a cull on bureaucracy, paying senior managers high wages, when their roles are not needed.
Regulated my bottom. No one reads my poetic CPD ramblings, which could have been generated by AI so little did they link to any actual training I had completed. I think this year I will start with ponderings on why I am.still doing this increasingly risky job as it really isn’t paying for the therapy. Oh and by giving other regulatory body fees as examples, that’s insulting, I wish I earned as much as a Dr, or a dentist…honestly fuming about these proposals. I don’t even get the little plastic card with my registration number to wave at people anymore. I could have been a florist…I’m 60 and hanging on by the skin of my teeth, not sure the stress won’t kill me before I can claim my paltry pension. One more nail in the coffin. Could we maybe also talk about petrol mileage, hasn’t gone up since, well never as far as I can remember. Let’s increase that by 30%….
Two years and seven months for SWE to complete an investigation into my practice with a conclusion that there was no foundation to the allegations. I left.
I’m so sorry David. That is a disgraceful amount of time! And the stress and strain of it all must have been unbearable. That’s shameful from SWE. 😑
Mine was 4 years and 3 weeks. No foundation. I’m too angry to rant. 30 years social care reputation ruined.
I am really quite angry at this proposal. Work part-time due to caring responsibilities and as outlined above would like a similar pay rise as pay awards always fall below the cost of living.
Would like to know what I’m paying for and perhaps CPD requirements could have been included in the consultation. Time pressures topped with financial issues. Well done SW England and for what it’s worth I have completed the survey and strongly disagree with the proposed increase in annual payments.
We Need DOGE!!
Fascism, that’ll do it. And social workers wonder why they have such a poor standing with the public.
There is one thing that social workers can do but won’t do. Get organised across the country and have the backbone to mass refuse paying the increase. SWE isn’t organised enough to de-register all of us and if it could employers would get involved as they can’t suddenly recruit hundreds of agency workers. If you hide behind the our clients will suffer without us cop out remember that it is that docility that gives power to SWE to treat you as a cash cow. Social workers always have a choice, they just have to exercise it. I spent over a year on strike in London Borough of Camden and suffered enormous financial and psychological stress. We believed in the justness of our actions and though many close colleagues scabbed and previously good relationships were broken, I still don’t talk outside of professional settings to those people, we kept our jobs and nobody was given a negative reference if they chose to leave. Social work is no more demanding, the pressures no greater, users of services no more vulnerable now than were then. Backbone is what’s needed. Whining and whinging just perpetuates resentment.
Totally agree, we can moan for England but we never take the action needed. Mass deregistration might finally make people see our value. Oh sorry I’ve just woken I thought it was the 1970’s. Well I can dream
Nurses, junior doctors, train drivers… they all managed to get blood from the stone because they were prepared to stand up and fight. Social work enjoys being oppressed. It’s part of our martyr identity. Real term pay cuts year on year for near enough 18 years but take one day for industrial action? Absolutely not, no thanks! That urgent form might be one day late being filled in for no one to ever read, so the unions need to stop blocking our latest breadcrumbs rise with this misguided notion that we’ll ever demand what we’re really worth and we’ll just put up with SWE, the DfE and the government treating us however they like.
We get nothing apart from a SWE number for our cash
No issue with the proposed figure itself. This brings us in line with other professions such as nurses and OTs. The annual increase however does not I don’t believe. Then of course is the transparency and accountability of SWE
SWE Chief executive “remuneration (including salary) and pension entitlements”
2022-23 165-170k
2023-24 170-175k
That’s before we get into the approx £100k salaries of the 3 Executive directors
Such SWE salaries are perverse and indefensible – capitalism at its worst!
Over a year since Rachel Meade won her tribunal against SWE and still no statement about lessons learnt. Still no statement about social workers’ rights to speak freely about matters of professional interest without fear of recrimination and targeting by political activists. Still no apology to the profession for her unfair and unjust treatment.
Hi everyone, there should be no fees, considering the pressures Social Workers are under.
33%???? Are you joking?? Absolutely outrageous for an organisation that is ineffective with no impact on practice improvement. We should sit under HCPC. It reaffirms the difficult decision to de-register…
You’ll get a worse service but you’ll pay more for it. Very 2025, end of capitalism feel to it this one
So, there over 103,000 registered social workers. That equates to £9,270,000 SWE get in fees at the current £90.
£9.2 MILLION! How are social workers as practitioners benefitting from that 9.2?
To increase it to £120+, that’ll take it to £12,360,000.
Again, what are they spending the money on, that benefits Social Workers, if David (above) had to wait over a year for an FTP outcome?! We need considerably more transparency from SWE about this.
Also, I think that WHEN they introduce this (coz let’s face it, they’ll do it regardless of the consultation feedback), they should introduce the option to pay MONTHLY!
What do they actually do for us in the first place, other than that yearly CPD 🙄
What do SWE do for SWrs with this money?
Why are SWrs required to register every year when Nurses pay once in 3 years?
Why is SWE expecting a pay rise to ‘Keep up with inflation’ when as a SW, I haven’t had a pay increase since 2016?
Anyone else remember the days of CCETSW when SWkrs were appropriately represented and supported, yet we didn’t have to pay anything?
I well remember the agonized discourse around having a College of Social work and the disgraceful interventions of BASW to thwart a truly representative regulatory body because they thought they were the ones who should become this. The shambles that is SWE is in part because of BASW throwing its toys out of its pram. Some of us have long memories, some of us take pride in never forgetting. Little bit late for it’s lackey ‘Union’ to bemoan fee increases now. I certainly don’t know anyone who is a member of ‘Social Workers Union’ and am genuinely interested in hearing from someone who is. I also remember being told that if social workers were to be respected as a profession SWE was the necessary step. I don’t hear many Leaders biging up SWE like that now. Our PSW thinks its early days and that a new organisation needs “time to embed” but that’s about it. This is a bigger problem than just an unreasonable fee increase by an incompetent organisation. One question would be why are they so unsuccessful at recruiting? Salaries are good, staff seem mostly to work ‘remotely’, resources appear to be far better than ones we have and the facilities in Sheffield are more than pleasant. If social work had a truly independent Leadership they would hold SWE to account. Perhaps rather than questioning why SWE are so opaque and unaccountable we need to ask what compromised interests our Leaders have that prevents them championing us. At the very least one would think they had something to say about the length of time FtP investigations are taking.
SW England…. I wondered at the statement about not reviewing our CPD submissions! So what exactly are they doing? And now this huge leap in costs. What do we get for the fees we pay ? I’m not sure we’re getting anything this year.
The cost of living crisis, no pay rise, social workers struggling to make ends meet, increased staff shortages, increased work loads, decreasing work life balance! Toxic work environments. Increased risks! This is not an exhaustive list.
SW England an enigmatic group of people earning way beyond what the vast majority of us do, exists because we enable it.
I think I’ve had enough.
Ruth Allen’s weak response reads like she’s already conceded to SWE on the fee increase. BASW really needs to disown their big brother now.
Some of who were BASW members but resigned amongst other reasons because of the uncritical relationship it has with SWE are not surprised. It seems the supposed kudos of regular meetings with SWE is more important and ego boosting than actually standing up for social workers. As Tahin infers BASW and SWE are two sides of the same coin. Compromised and emasculated by choice in the case of BASW and wallowing in self pity while mired in incompetence in the case of SWE.
I get that there needs to be savings made for the tax payers, but from all of the unpaid hours that social workers give to the country (especially during covid) we are saving the government millions already each year! Where nurses, doctors, police, fire etc go on strike, they call in the army to assist….. who can be called in to assist the shortages for social workers other than other social workers!
The pressures of the job are destroying so many social workers and forcing them to quit or work in survival mode. This in turn is putting pressure on other resources and it is then the very people social workers wanted to help that ends up facing the brunt of it all and then costs the tax payers even more!
I would gladly pay the extra fees if swe started to look at why so many individual 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 become so disheartened! It just cannot continue as it is!
Bring back GSCC. It appears that SWE is here to make money off already struggling social workers. What do they give us in the first place?
This won’t be popular with social workers but SWE isn’t there to “do” for social workers, it’s there to protect the public from poor social worker practice. That said the productivity of SWE personnel doesn’t justify the proposed fee increase.
It’s not about SWE service to protect the public. It’s their attitude towards social workers who they govern but fail to protect too. How long do you feel that SWE should leave a social worker’s fitness to practice case, whether innocent or guilty of any allegations? Not 1,2,3, or 4 years. Where it the protection they offer the public by letting them wait to know about an outcome for that length of time? It’s emotional and psychological harm.
Can we lobby our Chief Social Workers for a view? There doesn’t seem to be an ounce of support for this proposal from the profession…at least from the comments I’ve seen.
I work 16 hours as a qualified SW. reduced my hours due to caring needs. My caseload is more than my hours. My take home wage is poor. Why am I doing this? Is it worth it? Does SWE want to push us out?
To date, I have seen little to no direct benefit from this membership, apart from added pressure and unrealistic expectations on an already overstretched workforce. The requirement for us to compile lengthy evidence of our work seems impractical when, in reality, a simple verification from HR could confirm our professional standing and conduct.
Further more and even more concerning was in the case of social worker Rachel Meade, the local Council issued a public apology, stating: We apologise to Rachel Meade for the way she has been treated and the upset that has been caused. In contrast, Social Work England did not offer an apology. The employment tribunal criticised the regulator for its failure to offer any form of apology to Meade following the original judgment, describing its actions as a serious abuse of power.
Consequently, I would appreciate a clear explanation of how this organisation actively supports its members in a meaningful way. In the past, there have also been perceptions that funds have been allocated to events such as Christmas parties rather than directly benefiting the professionals you represent. Given the financial and professional challenges we face daily, I urge you to provide transparency on how our membership fees are being utilised to offer genuine support and advocacy for social workers.