Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and co-production action plan 2025 to 2026

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

Our work so far

Since becoming the regulator in 2019 we have focused on building strong and lasting foundations. As we move into our next action plan, we will continue to build on previous progress, focusing on 2 key priorities: 

• Making regulation of the social work profession fair and inclusive. 
• Creating and sustaining a diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplace for our people. 

In 2024, we expanded our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team and co-production is central to how we work. It ensures social workers and people with lived experience of social work can help shape our work. When co-production and inclusion are done well, people feel heard and empowered. This leads to better, more effective decisions. The National Advisory Forum (NAF) continues to provide expert advice, challenge, and guidance as we strengthen our co-production and inclusion practices. 

As a regulator, we have:

• Started phase 2 of our analysis of disparities in our fitness to practise processes.

• Regularly published key data about the register, fitness to practise referrals and outcomes, and overseas applications.

• Co-produced our fifth annual Social Work Week, including diverse voices and experiences.  

• Used our influence to raise awareness and tackle inequality through:

  • The Joint Healthcare Regulators' EDI Forum 

  • The Association of Chief Executives EDI Forum

  • The Institute for Regulation’s EDI Special Interest Group 

• Simplified our user research process to include a more diverse range of people and introduced communication principles for user engagement.

• Carried out a website accessibility audit and made necessary improvements.

• Continued educating staff on inclusive communication and providing ongoing support. 

As an employer, we have:

• Focused on attracting, retaining, and developing our workforce through strong planning, building a healthy and inclusive culture, and offering wellbeing support. 
• Delivered our Positive Action Mentoring programme for the third year, making changes based on participant’s feedback. 
• Reviewed and updated our organisational behaviours framework, to further improve our workplace culture. 
• Improved results against external diversity benchmarking tools 
• Set up a working group to support our people networks, help them work together and show their impact in our quarterly report. 
• Ensured every staff network has an active senior sponsor and is supported to grow membership, staff engagement, and shape our culture. 
• Improved how we collect and use workforce diversity data to support our inclusive recruitment approach. 
• Joined up our HR and recruitment systems to better collect and use workforce data. 
• Improved our mandatory EDI e-learning and began collecting feedback to understand how well it works. 

Our objectives and priorities

Our strategy for 2023 to 2026 is built on 2 key principles:

1. EDI must be embedded in everything we do.

2. We must always listen to, engage with, and co-produce alongside those directly impacted by our work. 

Our EDI objectives for the year ahead are part of this strategy. Co-production is also a key approach throughout. These objectives are central to how we work. 

This is the final EDI and co-production action plan aligned with our current strategy. Over the coming year, we will begin developing our new strategy for 2026 to 2029. As part of this process, we will consult on this strategy and host a series of events across England to co-create a shared vision for the new strategy and ensure that equality, diversity, inclusion, and co-production are meaningfully embedded throughout. 

In 2025 to 2026, we will focus on: 

• Sharing our data and insights to support leaders and policymakers to create change and fair and safe regulation. 
• Making sure social work students get high-quality, consistent education and training in supportive and inclusive settings. 
• Keeping our registration processes fair, responsive, and efficient.  
• Improving our digital services so they are more inclusive and easier to use. 
• Being a diverse and inclusive employer that supports and motivates our people to deliver for the communities we serve. 
• Continuing to improve how we work so we stay a well-run organisation that delivers outcomes and value for money. 

How our priorities are informed 

We have based our priorities and actions in this plan on: 

• Our legal responsibilities 
• Our organisational behaviours and values 
• Our co-produced professional standards 
• Data and insights from our regulatory work 
• Feedback from our staff 
• Engagement with key stakeholders 
• Broader trends and challenges in the health and social care sector 

Review, reporting and governance

Our Board leads our commitment to EDI and ensures the Executive Leadership Team is delivering on this plan. Each action in this plan is owned by an Assistant Director or Executive Director, but everyone is responsible for achieving these actions. 

We want to be an organisation that leads by example on EDI and co-production. We will check progress quarterly, to make sure our objectives stay relevant and meet emerging needs. We will set new goals as needed.  

Progress will be monitored through: 

• Quarterly reviews by the EDI Steering Group 
• Regular oversight by the Leadership Team 
• Discussions at the National Advisory Forum 
• Policy updates at the Policy Committee 
• Accountability through the Board 

We will keep publishing updates in our annual report, to stay open and involve the public and profession. 

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 2024 to 2025, we continued to use data to support our approach to EDI. We continued analysing diversity data from our register to better understand how EDI affects our fitness to practise processes. We published an update  on our progress, which will guide future analysis and shared our next steps.  

We regularly published key information about the register, fitness to practise referrals and outcomes, and overseas applications. Alongside this, we continued to work with Skills for Care to support the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC –WRES). This enables participating organisations to assess and improve their fitness to practise data and processes to support fairer referrals. Looking ahead, we will host a public consultation, including a series of events across England, to co-create a vision for our 2026 to 2029 strategy. These events will provide an opportunity to explore our future approach to these areas and ensure they remain central to our strategic direction. 

We supported The Open University’s Witness to Harm, Holding to Account project, which explores the experiences of witnesses in the fitness to practise process. In response, we have acted on several key suggestions, including updating our guidance for witnesses and vulnerable witnesses. We continued to develop our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) network to improve how we work with local authorities and support the referral process. This work includes co-producing ‘fair referral principles’ aimed at supporting those making referrals. This will encourage early responses to stop EDI related regulatory concerns from becoming more serious. 

In 2025 to 2026, objective 1 will build on this foundation by improving how we collect, analyse, and report data. This will make sure out work on EDI is led by evidence so we can make real and lasting change. 

Action 1A: Complete phase 2 of our diversity analysis in fitness to practise. This will improve our understanding of disparity and inform regulatory activities, and national policy. 

• Evidence: publish the findings of our analysis, including quantitative analyses, case reviews and action plan. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 2
• Business plan objective: 1.1, 1.2

Action 1B: Continue working with the Witness to harm project, holding it to account. Findings will help to improve how we support complainants and witnesses in our fitness to practise process. 

• Evidence: update the fitness to practise process to better engage and support complainants and witnesses, using learning from the project findings. Review impact through feedback or case data. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, Regulation
• Strategic objective: 2
• Business plan objective: 1.1

Action 1C: Complete 4 key research projects with a specific focus on EDI. This will help us better understand (all of the following):  

• the national practice education landscape  
• how artificial intelligence is being used in social work practice and education.
• how we define ‘seriousness’ in the concerns we receive about fitness to practise 
  
  
• Evidence:
  
  Use research findings to:  
  • develop proposals for the regulatory framework for practice education.  
  • define our regulatory role in supporting the use of AI in social work. 
  • plan the next phase of our work on seriousness in fitness to practise. 
  • consider EDI in future phases of our work on practice education and seriousness.
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 2
• Business plan objective: 1.2

Action 1D: Run a series of public consultations to ensure our decisions are transparent, inclusive, and informed. We will listen to a diverse range of view, including those from marginalised groups. We will consult on:  

• our fees rules and registration rules (started in quarter 4 of 2024 to 25) 
• fitness to practise guidance 
• Communicating online guidance 
• education and training standards and rules 
• our strategy for 2026 to 2029 
• Evidence: 
  • Publish consultation responses that show how feedback from a diverse range of people has shaped decisions. 
  • Review effectiveness of our consultation and engagement approach and make improvements based on feedback and participation data.  
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 3
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 2
• Business plan objective: 1.1

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 early 2025, we finished the first full cycle of inspections and reapproval decisions for all original social work education and training courses in England. These inspections were based on our education and training standards. We will use what we learned to improve our inspection approach, working closely with the sector. 

These findings will also help us to update to our education and training standards. We plan to consult on suggested changes later in 2025. The consultation feedback will ensure that the updated standards continue to improve the quality and consistency of social work education. 

We will continue working with our Education and Training Advisory Forum (ETAF), which provides independent advice, expertise, and constructive challenge to Social Work England on a wide range of issues relating to social work education and training. Acting as a critical friend, the forum helps us deliver the priorities set out in our approach to education and training. The ETAF has played a key role in developing new readiness for professional practice guidance for education providers. This guidance is designed to simplify the complex landscape of voluntary standards and frameworks that students and educators currently navigate. Membership includes people with lived and learned experience, education and practice representatives, students, and members of the National Advisory Forum. 

Action 2A: Build on EDI learning from our first year of inspections (2021 to 2024) and annual monitoring for the 2023 to 2024 academic year. We will use this learning to inform our approach to inspecting AMHP and BIA courses. Share insights to share ongoing improvements in education and training. 

• Evidence: Publish our education and training landscape report, bringing together what we’ve learned about EDI across social work education and how it shapes the broader landscape. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 2
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 1.4

Action 2B: Review our education and training standards, and elated rules, with a specific focus on EDI. This will help prepare for public consultation.  

• Evidence: Engage with key stakeholders, including people with lived experience, to gather input. This will include a focus on EDI practice within current standards.
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 1.4

Action 2C: Share knowledge, skills and behaviours required for courses to ensure students meet professional standards in relation to EDI. 

• Evidence: Publish our ‘readiness for professional practice’ guidance with a specific focus on EDI. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Policy and Strategy
• Strategic objective: 4
• Business plan objective: 1.4

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

In 2024 to 2025, we improved how we assess registration applications and made communications clearer and more supportive so applicants can better understand each step. 

We reviewed our annual renewal process; we engaged directly with social workers and their employers. Their feedback was positive, showing that our approach is both effective and easy to use. 

In 2025 to 2026, we will use what we have learned to improve our guidance and standard messages. This will help make registration even easier for social workers. 

Action 3A: Make process and system improvements based on learning and stakeholder feedback obtained in the 2024 review of renewals to promote fairness and efficiency in registration and advice processes. 

• Evidence: 

  Review and update guidance and standard communications based on stakeholder feedback. 

  Have EDI as a monthly standing agenda item in Registration and Advice team meeting to discuss, track and promote implementation of EDI initiatives. 

  Review and update offline processes for registration and renewals. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Regulation (Registration, Advice, and Adjudications)
• Strategic objective: 5
• Business plan objective: 1.3

Action 3B: Continue engaging social workers about how they carry out and record CPD. We will also get their views on future CPD, with a focus on EDI. 

• Evidence: Use insights to shape a 2026 consultation on CPD and set out our long-term plan. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Regulation (Registration, Advice, and Adjudications)
• Strategic objective: 5
• Business plan objective: 1.3

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

In 2024 to 2025, we improved the accessibility of our digital channels and services. This included improving our user research database and making changes to our website to support a more accessible experience. 

We started embedding inclusive communication practices across the organisation. We did this by: 

• Sharing surveys and training materials with staff. 
• Launching a central accessibility hub on our intranet.  
• Appointing accessibility leads in each team to champion best practices and provide support. 
• Reviewing our digital, data, and technology services. What we learned will shape our new digital, data and technology strategy.  

Action 4A: Complete a project plan for improving the website. Identify changes for the website bas ed on digital data and technology review outcomes and user journey feedback. Identify changes for the website based on digital data and technology review outcomes and user journey feedback. 

• Evidence: 
  • Create a project plan for website improvements.
  • Confirm a plan of improvements to the information that supports people raising concerns.  
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 8
• Business plan objective: 3.2

Action 4B: Continue improving internal and external communications. Create content that reflects and includes diverse voices and experiences. 

• Evidence: ensure content reflects different perspectives and includes underrepresented voices. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Assistant Director - Communications, Engagement and Insight
• Strategic objective: 1, 8
• Business plan objective: 1.1

Action 4C: Continue our commitment to meet accessibility standards across our digital communication platforms.  Provide tailored training to teams that need extra support to produce accessible communications. 

• Evidence:

  • Update accessibility statement to reflect known issues.

  • Ensure all teams who need extra support in producing accessible communications can access training and feel confident in creating accessible content. 

• 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 2024 to 2025, we continued to deliver our people strategy for 2023 to 2026. This focused on 3 priorities: attraction, retention, and workforce planning. We continued to work on building a strong and inclusive culture, supporting health and wellbeing, and growing our leadership and talent. 

We reviewed our organisational behaviours framework to create a clearer picture of the culture we want to create. We will launch the updated version in spring 2025, along with leadership training to help support staff to use these behaviours in their work. 

Over the past 3 years, we have continuously adapted the Positive Action Mentoring programme in response to participant feedback. These improvements have helped us better meet the needs of our mentees and mentors. Rooted in a reciprocal mentoring approach, the programme fosters mutual learning and shared growth between participants, recognising the value of each person's experiences and perspectives. We are now undertaking a full evaluation to consolidate our learning and ensure that future developments are evidence-based and aligned with what works. We have continued to work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Boardroom Apprenticeship Pilot Scheme. This 12-month programme offers individuals, particularly those who may not usually have such opportunities, this scheme gives apprentices a chance to gain board-level experience. 

We continued using the check-in tool developed in 2023. It helps teams reflect on how their experiences look against external diversity charters. We updated the tool based on feedback from individuals and teams across the organisation. Further changes will be made after the launch of our new behaviours framework. 

We annually measure our progress using the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion’s TIDE (Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation) tool. In 2024, we received a silver TIDE award for the second year in a row. This was an improvement from bronze in previous years. Our overall score rose by 4% to 70%, showing the impact of our ongoing efforts. 

Our people networks continued to play an important role in shaping our culture. We set up a working group to improve the networks' impact and cross-network collaboration. We included network activities into our quarterly organisational reporting and ensured each network had senior sponsorship. Next year we will continue supporting networks, with a greater focus on allyship and intersectionality. 

We used diversity data to better understand our workforce. This helped us to review how we recruit. The data helps us identify gaps, improve outreach, and increase diversity. We also joined up our HR and recruitment systems to improve data quality and tracking. 

Finally, we updated our mandatory EDI e-learning offer. Next year, we will collect feedback and use it to make the training better. 

Action 5A: Apply the recommendations from the recruitment approach review. 

• Evidence:

  • Use strengths-based recruitment, linked to the behaviours framework, to focus on candidates’ strengths and success at work.  

  • Pilot anonymised recruitment at sifting stage to reduce bias.

  • Increase diversity on recruitment panels.  

  • Produce recruitment principles and guidance documents.

  • Roll out panel member training on fair and inclusive recruitment practices including partner recruitment. 

  • Improve data and reporting on recruitment processes and outcomes, including through Hireserve (recruitment platform).

  • Map recruitment improvements to TIDE, charters, and internal key performance indicators. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5B: Support and empower staff networks and forums to improve engagement and collaboration across the organisation 

• Evidence:

  • Review and improve training programme and resources for network chairs, including input from new leads on what support would have helped them.

  • Strengthen and clarify co-production processes between the networks, people and development, and EDI and co-production teams, and actively promote these to relevant colleagues.

  • Promote the use of protected time and communicate the benefits of membership to encourage greater participation.

  • Develop and share practical resources on allyship and solidarity to support inclusion across all staff groups.  

  • Increase cross-network collaboration through initiatives that explore and reflect intersectionality. 
    
    
• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5C: Redesign and publish the Workplace Adjustment Passport (WAP) based on staff feedback to ensure it is accessible, supportive, and effective. 

• Evidence:

  • Improve WAP process, guidance and template co-designed with the Disability and Neurodiversity staff network and Think Well, our mental wellbeing staff network.

  • Roll our updated WAP with clear guidance, manager training and a way for staff to give ongoing feedback on their experience. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5D: Strengthen how we use external benchmarking tools to track and improve our progress on EDI. 

• Evidence:

  • Use the updated talent inclusion and diversity evaluation (TIDE) benchmarking tool from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei) to assess EDI progress and areas for improvement.

  • Continue developing our diversity check-in tool to track progress against the Race at Work Charter, the Mindful Business Charter, and the Disability Confident Scheme, ensuring alignment with the launch of our new behaviour framework. 

  • Align EDI benchmarking insights with our behaviours framework and wider people data work to inform decision-making.

  • Identify new ways to measure and report on EDI outcomes following implementation of the behaviours framework.

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5E: Continue progress analysis for pay gap reporting, with a focus on gender, ethnicity, and disability. 

• Evidence:

  • Review current reporting and data sources to improve consistency and insight.

  • Publish gender pay gap reports on our website.

  • Introduce ethnicity and disability pay gap reports.

  • Use improvements in people data systems and dashboards (where available) to enhance pay gap analysis.

  • Include consideration of pay gaps in our people plan and subsequent recommendations and improvements 

• Timeframe: Quarter 2 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5F: Continue to integrate EDI into core learning pathways and induction

• Evidence:

  • Review current learning offer to ensure EDI is embedded across learning pathways, including leadership and induction.

  • Evaluate effectiveness and engagement of EDI sessions, using participant feedback and behavioural indicators.

  • Document how EDI principles and inclusive behaviours are reflected in learning content.

  • Review and improve the organisation’s induction pathway to ensure that EDI is embedded and clearly communicated as part of our organisational culture.

  • Identify strengths and gaps in current provision and update training where needed.

  • Ensure future learning programmes reflect our behaviours framework and support cultural change. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5G: Develop inclusive leadership development programmes 

• Evidence:

  • Use stakeholder insights and feedback from programme participants to inform ongoing development, with a focus on developing diverse and inclusive leaders.

  • Align leadership content with our behaviours framework and organisational values.

  • Include content that supports inclusive behaviours, allyship, and EDI good practice. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Action 5H: Enhance the Positive Action Mentoring programme by integrating participant feedback and insights from the past 3 years. 

• Evidence: Complete a full evaluation to inform and support the ongoing development of our mentoring offer.  
• Timeframe: Quarter 3
• Action owner: Executive Director, People and Business Support
• Strategic objective: 9
• Business plan objective: 3.3

Objective 6: Continually develop and improve how we work, ensuring we are a well-run organisation that delivers the right outcomes and provides value for money.

We began our commitment to co-production during our setup phase. This was done with 2 groups: one of professional experts and another of experts by experience. In 2020, we brought them together by creating the National Advisory Forum (NAF). The NAF combines lived and learned experience, and its members include registered and practicing social workers, academics, students, and individuals with lived experience of social work. 

The NAF is a critical friend to Social Work England. It helps us understand what co-production means in practice. It plays an active role in delivering our vision and achieving our objectives. At the start of our first corporate strategy, we focused on making co-production a key part of our work, and building internal understanding of it matters and how to effectively engage with it. 

Co-production is at the heart of everything we do. The NAF’s strength lies in the members’ commitment and the impact they have through meaningful engagement. 

This year, we strengthened the link between EDI and co-production. We reviewed our approach and created a framework to prioritise projects that will have the greatest impact and meet our strategic and business goals. we introduced a co-production workplan to support project tracking and reporting. We have further reinforced this alignment by re-establishing our cross-organisational Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) review group, as a mechanism for effective assessment and monitoring of EDI impact, ensuring these considerations are embedded more systematically across our work. 

To increase impact and value for money, we expanded co-production beyond the NAF. To ensure we engage with those most affected by our work, we will work closely with: 

• the Education and Training Advisory Forum  
• the Practice Educator Development Group  
• the People Forum, staff networks  
• other stakeholders across the sector  

We are beginning work on our new strategy for 2026 to 2029. As part of this, we will host a public consultation, including a series of events across England to co-create a shared vision for the future and ensure that equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and co-production are embedded at every stage. 

In 2025 to 2026, we will continue to build on this foundation. We will support teams to build confidence in applying co-production in their work and develop a reporting system to track and demonstrate progress. 

Action 6A: Develop and publish the 2026 to 2029 strategy with continued commitment to EDI and co-production.  

• Evidence: Run a public consultation to gather diverse perspectives and ensure transparency. 
• Timeframe: Quarter 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 10
• Business plan objective: 3.1

Action 6B: Continue to embed our updated co-production approach, aligning with EDI. 

• Evidence:

  • Publish updated guidance.

  • Deliver training to all teams.

  • Offer additional training to EDI and co-production champions so they can support their teams.  

• Timeframe: Quarter 1 to 4
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 10

Action 6C: Design new quarterly reporting system for co-production workstreams and their impact. 

• Evidence:

  • Set up new reporting system in place. 

• Timeframe: Quarter 1
• Action owner: Executive Director, Professional Practice and External Engagement
• Strategic objective: 10