One in three practitioners would recommend social work as a career, finds regulator

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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.”