This is social work: the importance of regulation
This Is Social Work: the importance of regulation
Joining our host Kate Metcalf is Phil Hallam, executive director of regulation at Social Work England.
Kate
Hello, I'm Kate Metcalfe. I'm the regional engagement lead for the South of the country at Social Work England. And I'm also a registered social worker. Today I'm joined by Phillip Hallam, executive director of regulation at Social Work England, to talk about the importance of regulation for social work. So, Phil, I'm just going to come straight to you and ask, can you reintroduce yourself? Tell us a bit more about who you are and what you do.
Phil
Thanks, Kate. Good morning. So, yeah, I'm Phil Hallam. I'm the executive director for regulation here at Social Work England. I've been here for a few years now since Social Work England came into existence. I have a background in professional regulation, so I know a bit about sort of, you know, the importance of regulating different kinds of professions, I suppose. So here I'm responsible for the teams that look after the register, and the teams that deal with complaints about social workers, as well as some of our sort of back office functions like information governance and legal.
Kate
Wonderful. Thank you for that. And we're just here today having a chat about the importance of regulation. What, you know for those listening and who might be coming to this fairly fresh, what would you say? What would be a an explanation of professional regulation. What is it?
Phil
I suppose for me, professional regulation, so the regulation of individual people, rather than systems and and organisations, is about sort of helping that profession. So individual, in this case, individual social workers, demonstrate to the people that rely on them, but also to the people sort of beyond that, the public that, that social workers, on the register, you know, maintain, keep, maintain their skills, their knowledge and experience, such that, people that use those services but also all of us in society can have confidence that, that the people on the register, social workers, have, performing in a way that everyone should expect. So you know, the profession itself should expect that from each other. But also as I say, you know, the public, which is a big word, but you know society, you know, looks to certain professions and you know whether it's social workers, or lawyers or doctors and says, you know, nurses, and says, you know, the work that you do is such importance to society that we have to wrap some extra sort of protection around it
Kate
Hmm. Yeah.
Phil
and for, for social workers, for example, that's about professional standards.
Kate
Yeah, great answer and the title of social worker being a legally protected title, tell us a bit more about that. What does that mean for someone who doesn't know?
Phil
So it means really that again that you know, so the register is a way of saying to the world these people and these people alone have the skills and knowledge and experience to do the job that that society has sort of said is really important. So in this case, social work, and the protection of the title is therefore a way of saying, and therefore only those people on this list on the register can use that title, so when, you know, someone is presenting themselves as a social worker when they're working with with a family or with a person, that person can go. Yep, that's definitely a social worker because they're on the register, and if someone else isn't on the register then they can't be a social worker.
Kate
Yeah, nice and clear. So and it's pivoting around the register really, isn't it?
Phil
Yes, I mean the register, I remember many years ago one of the chief medical officers described the register as the sort of the heart of of professional regulation and the heart of public protection. And I really do believe that actually because, you know, it is a way of saying these people and these people alone have gone through the relevant training, but also continue to sort of keep their skills and knowledge up to date. And, you know, by meeting the professional standards that they can demonstrate to the public that they're sort of capable of safe and effective practise. So the register sits at the heart of everything.
Kate
Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of the beating heart of all of it, isn't it? And good to sort of be touching on that bit because some people listening might still be a bit confused about the difference between being a member of a body, a professional membership body and a regulated registered professional. Can you clear that up a bit for those listening?
Phil
I can try and I you know, as with all professions it, you know, it's quite a complex set of different organisations and different aspects of the work that all sort of linked together and, and professional representation or membership bodies are really, really important too. And obviously their role, from my point of view, is more about helping the profession represent itself to the public, and you know, making sure that that those that need to understand the role of the profession in terms of its representation. You know that's made explicit, I suppose really. So that I understand that the role of representation is there to act in the interest of social workers.
As the regulator, we have an interest in that too of course, in making sure that social workers and their work, and their standards are promoted, are maintained, the confidence in them is, is maintained. But our role is slightly different. I, I wouldn't say our role is to represent to the public, but our role is to act on behalf of the public to do all those things, I sort of alluded to a little bit earlier about, you know, helping develop and maintain professional standards and holding a register so that the public and social workers together, can ensure that there is, you know, adequate public protection for members of the public by those who are on the social work register.
Kate
And would it be fair to say that we're there for the public? We're not there for social workers. Are we as a regulator, we're definitely there for the public. Just to clarify that.
Phil
Indeed, yeah, our role is, is and you know it's it's a big, it's a big phrase, but our role is to protect the public. Yeah. And the things we do are all aimed towards that. So while we want to do that, you know, and we we really try very hard to work in collaboration with social workers and those that represent them and the whole sort of system around social work to do that, our role is very heavily focused on the protection of the public.
Kate
Brilliant. Any sort of final thoughts on the necessity of regulation, its impact and its force for good?
Phil
I mean I, you know, I, I have worked in regulation now for quite a while. I've regulated different kinds of professions and I've seen lots of different things around, you know, regulation and I genuinely do think it is a force for good. It can sometimes feel, I imagine, if, if as a professional, as a social worker, that the regulator's quite distant from you, but it's really important that even though that might be the case, because you know, for the vast majority of people on the register, their interaction with us hopefully will be about maintaining their registration and demonstrating to us and beyond us to the public, that they maintain, you know, their skills and knowledge through doing, for example, their CPD.
Kate
Yeah
Phil
But regulation then beyond that is a way of saying to the public this profession is so important that we have to wrap some safeguards around it. And and we are there to make sure those safeguards are enforced, but they're also fair and they're transparent and they apply consistently to all kinds of social workers on the register, no matter what their practise is. So I think it's a real public good.
Kate
Yeah, and, and lastly. Just can you speak a little bit to the relationship that we have with social workers because as a specialist regulator of social work, we only regulate that profession and consequently we have a, some form of relationship with every individual person on the register, don't we?
Phil
We do and I think you know, as I sort of said, it can be quite hard sometimes for the regulators to have a sort of, you know, a personal relationship with 105,000 people, but we do try really hard and we've tried really hard since we came into existence to try and communicate effectively with individual social workers when we need to. For example, when it's time to renew their registration or it's time to submit to us evidence of their CPD. But more importantly, trying to communicate through through methods like this, but also through all of the sort of the work that you know our teams do to try and help the social work profession to understand a bit more about why they are regulated, and the importance of being regulated, and the things they need to do, and try and maintaining the balance in the things that we communicate and the things that we do between being sort of proportionate, but also keeping really focused on that idea that we are here to, to demonstrate to the public that social workers are capable of effective practise.
Kate
And that being registered and regulated is part of your professional identity as a social worker.
Phil
Very much that indeed exactly that. You know, that is a really, really important for us, you know, sort of that public protection and also our professional identity element as well.
Kate
Well, that's been brilliant, Phil. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today and hope to speak to you again soon.
Phil
Thanks Kate.
Kate
So our thanks to Phil for joining us today. And if you've enjoyed this podcast, you can find more within 'This is social work' on our website at Social Work England.