Equality, diversity and inclusion action plan 2024 to 2025

• Our work so far
• Our objectives and priorities
• Review, reporting and governance
• Our plan and objectives

Our work so far

Our second equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) action plan covered April 2023 to March 2024. As a young organisation our focus has been on creating a strong foundation for us to build upon. Now, as we transition to our next action plan, we will build on the progress made in the previous year, focusing on 2 key areas:

• We strive to ensure fairness and inclusivity within the regulation of social work profession.
• We foster a diverse and inclusive workplace for our staff.

We have grown the EDI team and expanded their remit to include co-production to align the two core principles of our strategy. Co production is about encouraging the people we work with and for to participate in and influence our work. This includes social workers, and people with lived experience of social work. When co production and inclusion are effective, people feel heard and empowered. Critically, too, effective co production and inclusion improve our actions and makes them more impactful. Our National Advisory Forum provides expert advice, support and challenge to our work and on how to continue improving our approach to co production and inclusion.

As a regulator, we have:

Developed a clearer picture of the diversity of the workforce

• Published an initial analysis of diversity data of social workers in relation to its fitness to practise processes.
• Initiated Phase 2 analysis to further understand disparities in the fitness to practise processes.
  

Championed collaboration and transparency

• Commissioned research on recruitment and retention of social workers, informing policy development
• Co-produced Social Work Week for the fourth time ensuring that the programme reflects the diversity of social work practice and the voices of people who have social work in their lives
• Used our influence to identify, understand and address wider inequalities as part of several forums including:
  • the joint healthcare regulators’ equality, diversity and inclusion forum
  • the association of chief executives equality, diversity and inclusion forum
  • Institute for Regulation – EDI Special Interest Group
    

Made registration easier for social workers from abroad

• Streamlined processes through collaboration with international partners and updated public guidance for various registration scenarios.
• Simplified skills and knowledge forms and implemented measures for quicker and fairer processing.
• Explored key issues in attracting and retaining overseas social workers.
• Streamlined user research to gather richer data from diverse participants and developed standardised communication principles for user engagement.
• Launched an Instagram channel and increased our social media following.
• Conducted an accessibility audit and addressed priority areas on the website.
• Educated staff on inclusive communication and provided ongoing support.

Focused on user-centred digital services

• Streamlined user research to gather richer data from diverse participants and developed standardised communication principles for user engagement.
• Launched an Instagram channel and increased our social media following.
• Conducted an accessibility audit and addressed priority areas on the website.
• Educated staff on inclusive communication and provided ongoing support.

As an employer, we have:

Begun implementing our people strategy

• Focused on attraction, retention, workforce planning, culture, health and wellbeing, leadership, and talent development.
• Delivered priority training programs for registration and fitness to practise teams.
• Reviewed recruitment data and implemented targeted recruitment efforts for our legal advisor recruitment building on the work we carried out in 2022.
• Launched a successful Positive Action Mentoring program.
• Rolled out 360-degree feedback for senior leaders including a focus on EDI.

Promoted a culture of inclusion

• Reached a 76% staff diversity data sharing participation rate to inform future strategies.
• Integrated diversity data with our engagement survey feedback, to help us target areas for improvement, and updated privacy notices accordingly.
• Updated website content on culture and benefits of working at Social Work England to support recruitment and retention.
• Made strong progress against diversity benchmarking tools.

Strengthened governance through EDI considerations

• Relaunched the cross-organisational review group and further embedded equality impact assessments (EIAs) within processes.
• Implemented a new project governance process with EIA reviews at key stages.

Our objectives and priorities

Our strategy for 2023 to 2026 explains 2 main principles that guide us:

1. EDI must be integral to and embedded in all we do.
2. We must always listen to, engage with and co-produce alongside those who are directly influenced by our work.

Our EDI objectives for the next year are therefore fully embedded into our strategy, ensuring that co-production is being thread through our plan. These objectives are considered core business.

The specific objectives from our current strategy that we’ll focus on this year are (all the following):

• share the data and insight we hold about the social work profession and our regulation. This will help us to support leaders and policy makers to drive change, and ensure our processes are safe and fair
• ensure all social work students receive comprehensive and consistent education and training. This should be in a supportive and inclusive learning environment, to prepare them for practice
• ensure that our registration processes are fair, responsive and efficient
• further develop our digital channels and services. This is to ensure they are inclusive and focused on user experience
• be a diverse and inclusive employer. We want to support and motivate our people, so they can deliver for the people we serve

The priorities and actions set out in this plan have been informed by (all the following):

• our legal responsibilities
• our professional standards, which we co-produced with the social work sector
• our behaviours and values
• our data and insights
• feedback from our people
  • feedback from key stakeholders
  • wider issues across the health and social care sector

Review, reporting and governance

The Social Work England board will lead our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. They’ll hold our executive leadership team accountable for its delivery.

One of our assistant directors or executive directors owns each action in this plan. However, it’s everybody’s responsibility to ensure we achieve them.

We aim to be an organisation that proactively pursues our ambitions for equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do.

We’ll review our organisational progress against these priorities every quarter. We’ll consider whether the objectives continue to be appropriate and relevant. We’ll also set further objectives where required, or when new priorities emerge.

Progress on the actions will be reviewed (in all of the following ways):

• at each meeting of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group
• quarterly by the Leadership Team
• at each meeting of the National Advisory Forum
• at each meeting of the Policy Committee
• at each meeting of the Board

We’ll continue to publish an update on equality, diversity and inclusion in our annual report.

Our plan and objectives

Objective 1: Share the data and insight we hold about the social work profession and our regulation. This will help us to support leaders and policy makers to drive change, and ensure our processes are safe and fair

In 2023 to 2024, significant progress was made towards building a data-driven approach to EDI. We began by analysing diversity data collected during renewals in 2022 and established a data oversight group to inform our work. We published our state of the nation report in Spring 2023 that set out what we have learnt about the social work profession in our first 3 years of regulation, including publishing aggregated diversity data for 95% of social workers.

In September 2023 we published our initial analysis of diversity data of social workers in relation to its fitness to practise processes. It highlighted the overrepresentation of certain demographic groups within fitness to practise processes. Phase 2 analysis is underway to understand the reasons behind these disparities. This includes examining factors like concern type, employment type, and regional variations. Our Decision Review Group, who provide scrutiny of a targeted sample of fitness to practise decisions conducted a thematic review which explored decision making in cases where EDI factors where identified. This review, alongside our findings from the diversity data analysis, informed the creation of revised guidance on EDI and decision making.

We commissioned research by YouGov which explored recruitment and retention issues, with key findings shared with the Department for Education to inform policy development related to workforce issues and published on our website. This research also formed the basis for the Change the Script campaign launched this year which called on the entertainment industry to more accurately reflect the reality of social work. We also delivered a bespoke session during Social Work Week to share the findings with the sector and will continue to provide a basis for further exploration of workforce issues including EDI.

Looking forward, Objective 1 in 2024 to 2025 will build upon this strong foundation, further refining data collection, analysis, and reporting to create a truly data-driven approach to achieving lasting EDI progress.

Action 1A: Complete the second phase of our analysis of diversity in fitness to practise to support our understanding of disparity to better support our regulatory activities, and where appropriate, national policy development and workforce planning.

• Evidence:
  • Publish a blog outlining progress since the phase one analysis.
  • Initial qualitative review of cases to explore reasons for disparities.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 2, 5, 7
• Business plan objective: 2.1, 5.1, 7.1

Action 1B: Continue to monitor key sources of insight to develop EDI themes that shape our regulatory approach.

• Evidence:
  • Expand quarterly reporting to include new data sources and refine metrics for deeper insights.
  • Annual thematic review at the Decision Review Group focusing on EDI factors related to fitness to practise cases.
  • Quarterly insight briefings from engagement activities to inform regulatory approach.
  • Utilise our single points of contact network to support preventative responses to emerging regulatory concerns related to EDI.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 2, 5, 7
• Business plan objective: 2.1, 5.1, 7.1

Action 1C: Through the reconfiguration of the policy team, establish a research function that explores the EDI issues highlighted in our commissioned research, to identify future streams for investigation.

• Evidence: Develop an annual research plan and longer-term research strategy.
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 2, 3
• Business plan objective: 2.1, 3.1

Objective 2: Ensure all social work students receive comprehensive and consistent education and training, in a supportive and inclusive learning environment to prepare them for practice

In 2023 to 2024, significant strides were made towards ensuring future social workers have the training and skills required to thrive in their careers.

We established the Social Work Education and Training Advisory forum to help shape our approach to social work education and training. We consulted with the forum to develop our guidance on readiness for professional practice, including a specific focus on EDI and anti-oppressive practice. This guidance outlines the Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours expected of future social workers. Planning is now underway for the guidance's publication and implementation, aligning with broader reviews of education and training standards.

We continued to inspect and reapprove courses of initial social work education and training during 2023 to 2024. We will use the learning from our reapproval cycle to inform a review of our education and training standards, including those focused on equality, diversity, and inclusion, to ensure our approach to inspections, reapprovals and quality assurance is effective and sustainable.

These combined efforts are building a stronger foundation for the continued improvement of readiness for professional practice in the social work profession.

Action 2A: Publish our readiness for professional practice guidance, including knowledge, skills & behaviour statements developed with the sector, in partnership with the Education & Training Advisory Forum.

• Evidence: Readiness for professional practice guidance published on our website.
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 4.3

Action 2B: Share EDI learning from our first years of inspections of initial courses of social work education and training.

• Evidence: Publication of a report that shares what we've learnt about social work education through the delivery of our first inspections cycle.
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 4.2

Action 2C: Review our overall approach to course inspections, reapprovals and quality assurance including initial education and training with a specific focus on EDI.

• Evidence:
  • Inspection reports from course inspections, reapprovals, and quality assurance processes, specifically highlighting findings related to EDI.
  • Engage with the Education and Training Advisory Forum, Course Inspectors, providers, and students to inform our approach.
  • Updated documentation showing changes made to inspection and quality assurance processes to enhance EDI.
• Timeframe: Quarter 3 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 4.1

Action 2D: Conduct an initial review of our education and training standards in preparation for a public consultation in 2025 to 2026 including a specific focus on EDI.

• Evidence:
  • Pre-consultation engagement with key stakeholders including people with lived experience to gather input including a focus on EDI practice within current standards.
  • Comparative analysis benchmarking current standards against best practices and standards in EDI from other educational institutions or regulatory bodies.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 4.1

Objective 3: ensure that our registration processes are fair, responsive and efficient

This year, we carried out extensive engagement to help make registration applications for social workers from abroad more user friendly and easier to understand. We worked with international partners (recruitment agencies and regulators) to streamline processes and ensure clear communication. We also collaborated with key stakeholders and organisations across the sector to understand and respond to international recruitment strategies. We also reviewed processes for Restoration and UK applicants.

Public guidance was updated for annual renewals, misuse of title, safe and effective practice, UK applicants, overseas applicants, and restoration applicants. Skills and knowledge forms were simplified and guidance was updated. Outreach efforts reached hundreds of employer contacts and provided a dedicated contact point to help applicants with documents.

Checklists and dedicated contact points ensured complete applications, and processing times were monitored for continuous improvement. We also introduced a new step in the process to contact all overseas applicants within 1 working day of applying with a copy of the guidance and checklist.
The workforce roundtable we convened explored key issues in attracting and retaining social workers, including those from overseas. The work was temporarily paused for a Terms of Reference (ToR) review, it has reconvened and continues to act as a central hub for national level coordination and sustained positive change.

In business year 2024/25, we will review our approach to registration renewal and consider whether existing arrangements offer the right balance between public protection, public confidence in the profession, and efficiency. Accessibility of our current approach will form part of this review.

Action 3A: Ensure fairness in registration and advice processes through a comprehensive review of data and stakeholder feedback from the last three years including overseas applicants.

• Evidence:
  • Conduct a thorough analysis of data trends and stakeholder feedback gathered over the past three years to identify areas for improvement in fairness.
  • Document findings and recommendations from the review process, outlining specific actions planned to address identified opportunities.
  • Implement targeted initiatives aimed at promoting fairness in registration and advice processes based on review outcomes.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Regulation (Registration, Advice, and Adjudications)
• Strategic objective: 3, 5
• Business plan objective: 3.1, 5.1

Action 3B: Learn more about how social workers use continuing professional development (CPD) and review our related requirements for how social workers demonstrate that they meet our professional standards including a specific focus on EDI.

• Evidence: Impact analysis of CPD and suggested recommendations.
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Regulation (Registration, Advice, and Adjudications)
• Strategic objective: 3
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Objective 4: Further develop our digital channels and services, to ensure they are inclusive and focused on user experience

During 2023 to 2024, we focused on building a stronger foundation for user-centred digital services. We streamlined our user research database process. This allowed us to gather richer data from diverse participants for user-friendly digital services.

Standardised communication principles were developed for user engagement. We conducted user research with 20 individuals on the process for raising concerns with us. This is to help make sure that people are well informed about the concerns we can deal with, and that our digital services make this easy to understand. A dedicated user research mailbox was launched, along with communication templates.

We launched an Instagram channel and increased our social media following across platforms by 2,000, widening our reach to further audiences. Content covered topics such as social work's societal impact, diversity, and professional standards. We also recognised and celebrated awareness events and created new visual assets that highlight the diverse reality of social work. A diverse social work photography project refreshed our visual brand assets.

An accessibility audit identified priority areas on the public website, with fixes initiated for seven high-impact issues. An updated accessibility statement was published in March 2024. We also educated staff on inclusive communication through surveys, training materials, and a central accessibility hub on the intranet. Monthly "accessibility bites" sessions were launched to provide ongoing support and information.

In 2024 to 2025, supported by further user research, we will deliver further improvements to accessibility and position us well for future user research.

Action 4A: Continue and expand the reach of our digital channels and services to ensure they are inclusive, user-centric, and efficient, leveraging new technologies and user research insights.

• Evidence:
  • Review of digital channels.
  • Completed scope and recommendations for future website improvements.
  • Improvements to the supporting information for the user concerns journey on the website have been implemented.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 8
• Business plan objective: 8

Action 4B: Sustain and enhance inclusive communications practices to reflect diverse voices and experiences.

• Evidence:
  • Regular audits and reviews of content to ensure representation of less represented voices.
  • Content that authentically reflects diverse voices and experiences.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 1, 8
• Business plan objective: 1.1, 8

Action 4C: Continue to enhance accessibility across digital platforms and services, building on previous audit findings and ensuring ongoing compliance with accessibility standards.

• Evidence:
  • Review accessibility audit findings, prioritise and identify remaining issues
  • Implementation of recommendations to further improve accessibility.
  • Updated accessibility statement reflecting status and improvements.
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 1, 8
• Business plan objective: 1.1, 8

Objective 5: Be a diverse and inclusive employer, which supports and motivates its people so they can deliver for the people we serve

In 2023 to 2024, we began implementing our people strategy for 2023 to 2026. Our priority areas are attraction, retention, and workforce planning to foster our strong and inclusive culture, health and wellbeing, and leadership and talent development.

Effective leadership and management play a crucial role in achieving our objectives and in supporting our people to deliver, perform and develop in their careers. We rolled out 360-degree feedback for senior leaders which included a specific focus on EDI.

We began delivery of priority training programmes for our registration and fitness to practise teams. We engaged an external legal provider to provide training to our staff in quarter 1 on the application of the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act in the regulatory context. We are also in the process of delivering a series of workshops on effective communication, intersectionality and effective decision making. We’ll continue to review our training offer for these teams, aiming to define and implement core learning pathways.

Analysis of recruitment data led to a review of our strategies. We utilised some targeted recruitment methods for the Legal Adviser recruitment by sending communications to lawyers from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds as these individuals are underrepresented in our partner pool. We also reviewed our Legal Adviser role descriptors. This was to encourage applications based on skills and not just experience to encourage candidates with no direct regulatory experience to apply. We’ll continue to review our recruitment practices and implement the learning throughout 2024 to 2025.

The Positive Action Mentoring 6 month pilot program proved successful and demonstrated high participant satisfaction. The 2024 mentoring cohort launched with 10 new partnerships across diverse organisational segments. We have also continued to participate in the Boardroom Apprenticeship Pilot Scheme sponsored by the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities. Boardroom Apprentice is a 12-month unique board learning, development and placement programme which enables people who would like to serve on a board, but who may not normally get the opportunity, to gain experience.

A check-in tool was developed for teams and individuals to assess how our workplace experience aligns with external diversity charters. Our commitment to equality and diversity is reflected in a 70% Disability Confident score, highlighting progress in embedding inclusion. A silver TIDE award for two consecutive years recognised our efforts, building on our previous bronze award. We will continue to use these tools to benchmark our progress during 2024 to 2025.

We’ve maintained and supported our people networks. Regular network meetings were held with proactive leadership from network chairs. We addressed turnover of network chairs through training, development opportunities, and tenure extensions. We will continue to support the networks to develop in 2024 to 2025. We included sessions on the networks at all-staff meetings, exploring network benefits and intersectionality.

We launched the "Diverse Teams Do It Better" campaign and a dedicated space on our internal intranet for hubs to share content. Awareness days and network events celebrated diversity across the organisation. We remain dedicated to continuous improvement and staff engagement in fostering a more inclusive workplace for everyone.

Action 5A: Strengthen our understanding of the make-up of our workforce. This is to improve our recruitment approach and increase diversity.

• Evidence:
  • Integration of recruitment and HR systems to improve data collection.
  • 80% diversity data completion rate.
  • Continue to analyse recruitment data by diversity profile to identify gaps and opportunities and implement tailored outreach.
  • Analysis of leaver questionnaires, grievances, disciplinaries, probation extensions and promotions by diversity profile to identify any inequalities.
  • Integrate EDI principles to ensure fairness and inclusivity in the hiring process, and keep website updated on culture and benefits.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.2

Action 5B: Refine and integrate the Positive Action Mentoring programme into standard practices.

• Evidence:
  • Completion of evaluation of second cohort.
  • Successful rollout of new programme.
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5C: Strengthen staff networks and forums and ensure they play an active role in shaping our culture.

• Evidence:
  • Provide rolling training programme and resources tailored for network chairs.
  • Incorporate network activities and achievements into quarterly organisational reporting.
  • Ensure each network has an active senior sponsor and/or Assistant Director representation.
  • Support networks to increase membership and staff engagement and play an active role in the organisational culture.
  • Review protected time principles.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5D: Improve the implementation and awareness of Workplace Adjustment Passports (WAPs) to ensure timely support for all staff.

• Evidence:
  • Summary report and recommendations.
  • Incorporate feedback from Neurodiversity and Disability staff network.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5E: Enhance measurement and utilisation of external diversity and inclusion tools.

• Evidence:
  • Continue to measure progress against the talent inclusion and diversity evaluation (TIDE) benchmarking tool from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI), Race at Work Charter and Mindful Business Charter.
  • Demonstrate the implementation and usage of the diversity check-in tool, capturing feedback and engagement levels from stakeholders.
  • Continued development and refinement of the check-in tool to monitor progress and engagement.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.2

Action 5F: Enhance pay gap reporting and analysis for gender, ethnicity, and disability.

• Evidence:
  • Continued publication of gender pay gap reports on our website.
  • Introduction of ethnicity and disability pay gap reports.
  • Evidence of actions taken to address identified pay gaps and improve pay equity.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5G: Refine and review mandatory Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion E-learning offer.

• Evidence:
  • Collect and analyse feedback from stakeholders to measure the effectiveness of the current training offer.
  • Roll out the updated training and gather feedback from participants.
• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.2

Action 5H: Further develop our bespoke learning offer for the board, including a specific focus on EDI.

• Evidence:
  • Bespoke learning offer developed that addresses the needs identified.
  • Feedback and evaluations, indicating how well the sessions met the identified needs.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5I: Integrate EDI into core learning pathways.

• Evidence:
  • Evaluation of EDI sessions conducted in core learning pathways, assessing effectiveness and engagement metrics.
  • Documented integration of EDI principles into core learning pathways, highlighting specific modules or courses where EDI content has been included.
  • Completed review outlining strengths and areas for improvement in current EDI integration strategies.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.2

Action 5J: Develop inclusive leadership development programmes.

• Evidence:
  • Document insights and suggestions from stakeholders regarding current leadership behaviours and programme effectiveness.
  • Conduct thorough review of behaviours framework and culture work outcomes to inform future leadership programme adjustments.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.1, 9.2

Action 5K: Further develop our strategic approach to internal communications for EDI.

• Evidence:
  • Conduct internal digital channels review.
  • Annual internal communications plan outlining EDI focus and objectives.
  • Review of our “Diverse Teams do it Better” internal campaigns promoting diversity and inclusion.
  • Regular production of content highlighting EDI initiatives and achievements.
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 9.2