Social work in England: State of the nation 2023

Published: 9 March 2023

We recommend viewing the PDF version of this document for the best reading experience. Alternatively, the strategy is available in plain text below.

Contents

• Foreword
• Thank you to the profession
• Introduction
• Executive summary
• Learning to be a social worker
• Social workers in England
• Upholding the professional standards
• Career-long learning
• Looking to the future

Foreword

Foreword by Colum Conway (Chief Executive, Social Work England)

Social workers support millions of people to improve their chances in life. They work in a vast range of settings in advisory, educational, safeguarding and protection, and direct support roles – helping to protect vulnerable people from harm or abuse and supporting people to live independently. Anyone could need a social worker in their life at any time.

Social Work England has been the specialist regulator of social work in England since 2 December 2019. In this time, we have introduced new professional standards, strengthened the relationship between regulation and education and training, and developed an in-depth understanding of the profession through engagement with the sector and people with lived experience. Since our inception we have faced, and continue to live through, unpredicted and difficult challenges such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a rising cost of living crisis. Millions of people were already facing wide-ranging challenges before these crises, and social workers have been at the forefront, supporting those who need it.

We have also seen heightened movements for meaningful equality in society. The social work profession, with its values and principles of anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice, is uniquely placed to lead the way in promoting equality in all aspects of society. These global events have been the backdrop to our work and that of the social work profession. As such, they have presented significant and specific challenges which are referenced in this report.

Through our regulatory activities, engagement, research and discussions we have learned a lot about the sector, profession and people with lived experience. Living by our values, we are pleased to share our learning in this state of the nation report. The report aims to:

• reinforce the vital role of social work in society
• highlight the role and value of regulation in social work for public
  protection
• consider the challenges the sector must now collectively address.

The chapter on learning to be a social worker looks at the education and training of social workers. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the way students learned as courses changed and remote learning and placements became the norm. Students faced challenges of self-isolation and missed out on face-to-face interactions that have always been at the centre of social work. Though the government no longer classes the pandemic as an emergency, some of these challenges remain.

We also consider the future of social work education and training. The report sets out some of our learning from inspecting and approving social work training programmes. This includes the quality of teaching and practice based learning, and how students are equipped with the knowledge, skills, behaviours and values to be ready for professional practice.

The chapter on social workers in England highlights the early challenges practising social workers felt at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have adapted the way in which they practise social work.

Despite the emergency response to the pandemic being over, the sector continues to feel the impact. High demand for health and care services, a rising complexity of needs and increases in vacancies continues to put pressure on a system that was already stretched. With employers finding it difficult to recruit and retain permanent staff, there has been an increased reliance on agency social workers. Although social workers are adapting the ways in which they deliver social work, these pressures can undermine the stability of relationships which is at the heart of good social work practice, and can have a direct bearing on people’s care.

It is important for us to consider the impact that these issues have on our ability to act as the regulator and ultimately, protect the public. Without shared action among all in the social care system, with considered and innovative national and local solutions delivered by a stable and high-quality workforce, services will be further strained, and people will be at greater risk of harm.

The chapter on upholding the professional standards highlights the importance of professional standards in ensuring safe and effective practice, and how they are the basis for regulating on behalf of the public. Failure to do so can result in concerns being raised with us about a social worker’s fitness to practise. The number of social workers that pass through any part of the fitness to practise process is proportionally very small compared to the number of all social workers registered with us. In this report, we share further insights of our learning through the fitness to practise process.

Finally, the chapter on career-long learning looks at how social workers are keeping their practice up to date, looking for opportunities to enhance and learn skills, and staying abreast of developments and best practice in their field. Social workers continue to learn throughout their careers, from newly qualified to experienced social workers that have been practising for many years.

This important report enables us to share some of our key learning with everyone with an interest in social work, including those with lived and learned experience of social work. We hope that it starts conversations, enhances collaboration, leads to action to continuously improve standards and ultimately helps to create a stronger social work system in England. A system that serves to protect the public and promotes the rights, strengths and outcomes for people.

Thank you to the profession

We want social work to be the best profession it can be. We believe in the power of collaboration and co-production to help achieve this goal. Co-production is about giving people who are affected by our work the opportunity to participate in and influence our work. When co‑production is done well, people should feel heard and that we have listened to their experiences.

Our National Advisory Forum is a group of people with lived and learned experience of social work. They act as a critical friend to support us in our role as the regulator of social workers in England.

A thank you from the National Advisory Forum

The co-production journey of the forum did not begin when it was formed in 2020; it started with a group of individuals from different areas, backgrounds, ethnicities, faiths, genders and ages – all with a personal experience of social work. These personal experiences encompass the breadth of social work, from:

• people living with physical disabilities
• mothers caring for children with additional needs
• individuals that have experienced mental health challenges
• people that have experienced the foster care system or have been adopted, and
• those experiencing social work through and with others in their lives.

We have all heard feedback around the professional identity of social work and the heaviness of many of the narratives, particularly in the context of an extraordinarily challenging few years. We felt it was important to acknowledge the good practice that takes place and share our words of encouragement for the years ahead.

Although social work in its very nature can be polarising for the people that receive it, we can all reflect on positive effects, instances or examples of social work that we have witnessed or received. Some have shared that social work has changed or saved their lives. When reflecting on our own lived experiences of social work the following was shared:

“Social work services have knocked on my door at various stages, both as a child and then as an adult when my own mental health was declining. I was overwhelmed by my mind and my circumstances of parenting 4 children, with the added complexities of the needs of children with disabilities. The intervention, whilst I didn’t see it at the time, gave me strength, guidance and confidence in myself as a person and as a parent.”

“One of the most positive impacts of social work in my life was moving from supported living into my own flat. My social worker at the time ensured a care plan was in place and worked with me to make the move as smooth as possible. They even visited me a couple of days after I’d moved! I now feel I am more independent, and I have more control over my life.”

“When I was 13 years old, I had a social worker who read my case file background and picked up on the fact that no life story work had been completed with me. With great encouragement he supported me to visit places and we photographed them. He obtained my birth certificate and I found out that I had been celebrating my birthday on the wrong date. He also told me I had a brother who was also in care. It was this social worker’s persistence and willingness to challenge that ensured I had the information I had a right to. It’s meant a lot to me that they did this because although I was not ready to meet my brother at the time, I now have a significant relationship with him and his children.”

As a forum comprising both lived and learned experience of social work, when reflecting on social work the following was shared by a social worker in the forum:

“Social work can be a tough job. At times the way social work and social workers are portrayed can make that tough job even tougher. However, tens of thousands of us make a positive, significant and lasting difference to the lives of people every single day in social work practice. It is fair to say that this often goes unreported, but we know from our experience as practitioners that it does not go unnoticed. The people we meet very often thank us for our support. They thank us for helping them to achieve the things that matter to them. And they thank us for our dedication, determination and willingness to go the extra mile.”

There is much to celebrate in knowing that someone felt happier or that there was a positive impact from the involvement you had in their life. It is important to not only remember that, but also to harness its value.

When reflecting on something in particular we would like to say to a social worker that has made a difference in our lives, the following was shared:

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for you! You will meet lots of different people and you will have an impact on their lives: big or small, positive or negative but keep going! This job is about the people.”

“Thank you for making me feel my story mattered, and for taking the time to understand who I am and what happened. I felt like much more than a case, I felt like I was being acknowledged. Always reflect on how your decisions would feel if you were at the receiving end.”

“Some people may delay doing the small things that make a difference because they are waiting for the next big thing to come along. Social workers’ practice is most often entirely the opposite. As practitioners, social workers strive to, and do, small things that make a real difference all the time.”

I think we all understand just how important social workers are. This isn’t to say that every social worker always gets it right, and we know that many people may have experienced some instances of social work that can be improved. But we felt it important to introduce this report by taking the time to reflect and by celebrating the power and possibility of the profession.

The National Advisory Forum

Introduction

What is social work?

Social workers support people in a variety of ways. They play a crucial role in supporting change and development, and advocate for a fairer society by tackling inequality. They provide a voice for those that need it, and promote the human rights and wellbeing of those they support.

The role of Social Work England

Social Work England is an executive non-departmental public body established under the Children and Social Work Act 2017. We regulate social workers in England to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people’s lives.

We have been the regulator since December 2019, meaning our annual registration period runs from 1 December to 30 November each year. Our third registration year closed on 30 November 2022. Throughout this report, when we say ‘we’ or ‘our’, we mean Social Work England.

Why are social workers regulated?

The term ‘social worker’ is a protected title. It is illegal for a person to use it unless they have completed the required training to register with us, and unless they maintain their registration. Registration sits at the heart of our role in protecting the public. Being registered provides assurance that social workers meet the requirements set out through legislation in order to perform their important role in society.

The aim of this report

When we began regulating social workers we made a commitment to share what we are learning about the social work profession in England through our regulatory processes. Over our first 3 years, we committed to sharing our reflections in interim reports which were published in:

• January 2021 – Social Work in England – First reflections
• January 2022 – Social Work in England – Emerging themes

This state of the nation report reflects on what we’ve learnt in our first 3 years of regulation. We will continue to share our learning in future.

How was this report produced?

This report has been co-produced with members of the public, the profession and our National Advisory Forum. We hosted a series of external engagement events to hear what people wanted to see in the report and what their experiences have been over the last 3 years. The insights gathered from these events and our ongoing conversations with stakeholders have helped shape the content of this report. In each chapter, we have sought opportunities for people to share their experiences of social work in their own words.

Executive summary

Learning to be a social worker

Social work education and training is essential to prepare students for practice. It’s also key to ensuring they are able to meet our professional standards when they enter the profession.

Higher education has been through a period of great change in the last few years, with course providers making adjustments at pace to ensure the continuation of student training in light of lockdown restrictions. This included the delivery of online learning and decreased face-to-face interaction and placement opportunities for students.

Face-to-face teaching and practice during placements is fundamental to social work. As we look to the future, we know that hybrid learning can provide more flexibility for both students and academics. Therefore, a balance can be achieved with the delivery of social work education.

Since we began regulating social workers, we have started 198 inspections of social work courses. As at 30 November 2022, 99 had concluded. Of these, 23 have been approved and 76 have been approved with conditions. Common conditions include: sharing course details with applicants; evidencing adequate placement capacity; and ensuring employers, practitioners and people with lived experience are involved in the design and review of the curriculum.

Social work should reflect the communities within which it works. This is only possible when the prospect of becoming a social worker appeals to people from a broad range of backgrounds, and when routes into social work are affordable and accessible.

Nationally, economic challenges persist. This makes for a challenging landscape for students, particularly where placement requirements reduce the time available to them to spend in paid employment. This challenging landscape may prove an influencing factor for prospective students when choosing their route into social work.

When we launched our new education and training standards in 2021, we began our journey to improve social work education and training across England. In June 2022 we published our approach to social work education and training. This sets out our areas of focus in relation to initial social work education and training in our strategy for 2023 to 2026, and beyond.

Social workers in England

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for the health and social care sector. As the profession navigates the ongoing uncertainty and settles itself into permanent new ways of working, the country is facing new economic challenges. As the cost of living increases, more people find themselves in financial difficulty, forcing some individuals and families into poverty. This correlates with an increase in social work referrals.

As at 30 November 2022 there were 100,654 registered social workers in England. 52.1% of the register work in children and families’ social care, 31.2% work in adults social care and 7% work in other areas of social work. In the 2021 to 2022 registration year, 5,335 social workers left the register and 6,715 joined the register.

The average age of a social worker in England is 46. 82.9% of social workers recorded their gender identity as female, 16.9% recorded their gender identity as male, less than 0.05% preferred not to record their gender identity and 0.04% self-described.

During the 2021 to 2022 registration year, we received 1,684 applications from overseas applicants. This represents a 175.3% increase compared to the number of applications we received in the 2019 to 2020 registration year (611).

As at 30 November 2022, 94,881 (94.3%) social workers in England had shared their diversity data for at least one of the above categories. Of these, 93,388 (98.4%) answered all 5 of the equality, diversity and inclusion questions. Only 1,260 (1.3%) social workers who engaged with the equality, diversity and inclusion questions chose not to provide any diversity data. We note that when comparing to available data from the Census 2021 for England and Wales. Early analysis of the data we have collected shows that the register is more diverse than the population of England and Wales in relation to ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, and representative of the population in relation to religion and disability. We look forward to carrying out a more in-depth analysis of the data we hold.

As the regulator for social workers, we are concerned with any workforce issues that have the potential to have an impact on public protection. One such emerging issue is the high number of vacancies in both children and families services and adults services, which are exacerbating high pressure working environments.

However, over a 3 year period our register has grown, indicating that social workers are not necessarily leaving social work altogether. We will carry out research in 2023 to gain a greater understanding of the key drivers in this picture across all of social work, not just in statutory settings.

Upholding the professional standards

All social workers registered in England are expected to meet and uphold our professional standards throughout their registration. As part of our role, we investigate concerns about the conduct, character, competence, and health of social workers. This is known as a person’s fitness to practise.

The number of social workers that pass through any part of the fitness to practise process is proportionally very small compared to the overall number of social workers registered with us. On average this is 1.6% per year. An average of 3.6% of this number are removed from the register per year, which equates to 0.1% of the register as a whole.

During the 2021 to 2022 registration year, we received 1,734 concerns where a social worker had been identified. Of these concerns, 309 were determined to not be a fitness to practise concern due to no statutory ground of impairment being identified.

In the 2021 to 2022 registration year, we held 1,079 hearings and meetings, an increase of 245 from the previous registration year. This number includes concerns received in previous registration years. To ensure that we are meeting our overarching objective to protect the public, we have a number of process-review groups and networks at each stage of the fitness to practise process. One of these includes consideration of decisions by the decision review group.

In some cases it is possible for a social worker to return to unrestricted practice if they are able to effectively demonstrate remediation. During our first 3 years of regulation, 55 social workers with final orders of conditions of practice or suspension have successfully remediated and demonstrated that they are able to practise unrestricted.

It is important for us to continue engaging with the profession to help those involved to better understand our role to protect the public. It means that social workers can be better informed about what constitutes a concern, how the concerns are investigated and the different outcomes. It enables employers to help social workers understand professional boundaries, best practice and how to uphold the professional standards. This ultimately helps everyone to better understand the fitness to practise process.

Career-long learning 

After joining the register, social workers continue to develop their skills and knowledge. Continuing professional development is important for all social workers to ensure that they continue to meet our professional standards.

The first years of practice are crucial to a social worker’s development. All newly qualified social workers should receive additional support from their employer and manager. We have heard some great examples of how employers support their newly qualified social workers through those initial years of practice. However, we know that this is not consistently the case for all. Given the importance of both public protection and professional confidence in this transition, we will look to introduce requirements that provide mandatory protected time in practice and professional development for all new social work graduates across England, and equity of training across the profession.

In the 2021 to 2022 registration year, social workers uploaded 220,937 pieces of CPD. This was an average of 2.3 pieces of CPD per social worker. For the first time, in the 2021 to 2022 registration year, social workers were required to record at least one peer reflection as part of their renewal requirements. Social workers uploaded 130,970 pieces of CPD that included a peer reflection, an average of 1.3 pieces of CPD with a peer reflection per social worker.

From February to March 2022, CPD assessors reviewed the CPD records and felt that the range of CPD was broader and the quality higher in the 2020 to 2021 registration year than in the previous registration year.

We are committed to engagement and co-production and believe that people who are affected by our work as a regulator should have the opportunity to share their views and help shape our work. We co-produce and engage throughout the year. One of our key annual moments for engagement with the sector is Social Work Week, coproduced with the National Advisory Forum. We want to act as an example to the sector and support the embedding of co-production across the profession. This report has been a great opportunity to hear about how social workers embed co-production within their practice and we look forward to sharing more examples in the future.

Learning to be a social worker

Social work education and training is essential to prepare students for practice. It’s also key to ensuring they are able to meet our professional standards when they enter the profession. Our role as the regulator includes setting education and training standards for all social work courses in England. This is to assure the public’s confidence that all social workers are receiving the best possible education and training in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Case study: Some students shared their inspiration for choosing to study social work:

“Having had some personal dealings with children’s social services and finding that the service was extremely policy driven and did not have that person centred approach, I decided to see if I could understand why and try to make a change.”

Newly qualified social worker

“I have witnessed social workers work with vulnerable adults, showing empathy and making them feel valued. This was when I discovered that the social work profession is built on a strong set of values, which includes respecting the dignity, worth, and equality of every human being. The way and manner in which social workers also protect their social work identities made me fall in love with the profession.”

Newly qualified social worker

“I had experiences in the past with physical abuse from a very young age. As I got older, I realised how so many people don’t have anybody to speak for them, and cases in the news made me realise how much the world lacks social justice. I studied health and social care in college and found myself further drawn to the social care sector. I also want to challenge the stigma around social work and the stigma that people with autism, like myself, lack empathy.”

Student

Higher education has gone through a period of great transformation in the last few years. The way in which social work education and training was delivered changed dramatically in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of national lockdowns meant that social work training and placements were mostly moved to being delivered online, although for some students learning and practice placements were delivered in a hybrid form. Global events involving social justice and equality have raised further awareness of the experience of marginalised groups. Students, educators and social workers alike continue to consider their own values and practice within the context of global events. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the rising cost-of-living crisis, and the war in Ukraine.

The impact of COVID-19

Delivery of courses online meant that many students began to feel the impact of social isolation. They missed out on the benefits of attending courses in higher education institutions in-person, such as socialising and learning with peers, face-to-face discussions, and building self-confidence, and independence in preparation for entering the workplace.

Case study:  Challenges faced by a student during the COVID-19 pandemic:

“The last 3 years of my life have been the hardest but the most rewarding. My cohort and myself have faced extreme pressures and uncertainty due to the pandemic and the way in which learning had to adapt. I think that we may have missed out on a normal university life but I think that the pandemic and having to adapt, has taught us to be resilient and adaptable to the unknown. This will in turn set us in good stead for the ever-changing world of social work.”

Student

As with course delivery, some placements also moved online. This meant that some students were no longer able to have face-to-face visits, and so missed out on the learning they would usually receive working alongside educators and people with lived experience, as well as colleagues with more experience. Research into blended learning by the Office for Students shared that some students would have preferred the opportunity to have more contact with their peers. Some students shared with us that these reduced direct learning opportunities may have led to some graduates feeling less confident in their own decision making, or making visits independently and in‑person again.

However, some found the transition from in-person to remote learning favourable. They felt that it improved their work-life balance and online delivery of social work education has made learning more inclusive for many. Whilst there are advantages to both, students benefit from reflective sessions to develop shared learning, and from directly shadowing more experienced social workers, which may have been more challenging to do online.

Face-to-face teaching and practice during placements is fundamental to social work education and training. Building effective and supportive relationships is at the heart of social work practice and is best achieved in-person. However, a case can be made for a hybrid approach.

As we look to the future, we know that hybrid learning can provide more flexibility for both students and academics. Therefore, a balance can be achieved within social work education. At their request, we have worked with some education providers to review aspects of their courses to move to a model that permanently includes elements of digital course delivery. We will continue to work with providers to understand the benefits and monitor the impact of a hybrid learning model.

Case study: Adjusting to hybrid learning:

“I am a lecturer in the social work team at a university. At the moment students have a mixture of face-to-face teaching on campus and online teaching in which we take a blended and hybrid approach.

“There is a lot you can do with hybrid teaching. I think it is important that lecturers familiarise themselves with tools they can use to enhance the online learning experience for students, such as using software like Mentimeter and Padlet. You can put students into smaller groups to complete group work and record sessions which is particularly important for neurodiverse students.

“It can be difficult to read body language and tone in the online environment, so I find doing a check in at the beginning of my lectures helpful. If we are in the online environment students know they can contact me and have an online or on campus meeting to discuss anything. I also encourage regular breaks.

“In terms of adjustments to support students from minoritised groups there are lots that I could talk about. But, as a neurodiverse academic, I am often approached by students if they suspect they have a neurodiverse condition. I think it is because I see my neurodiversity as a ‘superpower’ rather than a disability. I am open about this when I introduce a module particularly in case my speech or thinking processes are affected during mid-flow of a lecture!

“I have also recently completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice. My tutors at the university provided all of us with a choice in relation to assessment methods. For example, we could choose the format in which we submitted an assignment, such as a presentation or an essay. I found this really helpful as it helped me work towards my strengths and being given a choice was really important. It helped promote accessibility and inclusivity, which mirrored my social work values.”

Social worker and lecturer

Case study: Ways to effectively implement hybrid learning:

When delivering hybrid learning, prior reflection, and a carefully developed lesson plan are necessary. Approaches include a pre-recorded introductory quiz, book chapter or instructions to enable involvement in a face-to-face session. It could involve setting an exercise, or case study for the learners to follow, posted online, recorded with text speak and given out to those in the classroom. Students can also join sessions by live feed and ask and answer questions in the sessions and have access to a recording and reflect afterwards.

Within a hybrid world I have found setting some tutorials online through Microsoft Teams, and some face-to-face in the University work well. I encourage students to set up online study groups with their peers where they can share experiences and learning. It has also been useful to encourage students to use the Wiki function on Moodle to share ideas and to problem solve.

Social worker and personal tutor

Social work courses in England

All social workers who qualify in England are required to complete an approved level 6 (undergraduate) degree or level 7 (postgraduate) degree in social work to be eligible to register with us. There are multiple qualifying routes, including fast track programmes, apprenticeships and undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The variety of routes into the profession ensures that social work is accessible to applicants from different backgrounds and circumstances. For example:

• A person already working in health and social care may be attracted by the idea of a level 6 (undergraduate) degree apprenticeship in social work, as this will allow them to qualify while continuing to work.
• A person looking to make a career change with an existing level 6 qualification may be attracted to a level 7 fast track route, such as Step Up to Social Work, as this will allow them to qualify in 14 months.
• A young person with limited work experience and the time to invest in full-time education may be attracted to a traditional level 6 (undergraduate) degree course in social work, so they can benefit from the full university experience.

As at 30 November 2022 there were 83 course providers providing qualifying social work courses in England, delivering a combined total of 297 courses. The number of social work courses has remained stable across all entry routes over the last 3 years.

Regulated social work courses in England, by level of study as at 30 November 2022:

• Level 6 (undergraduate) courses: 129
• Level 7 (postgraduate) courses: 168

Social work courses by award as at 30 November 2022:

• BA (Hons): 95 courses
• BSc (Hons): 33 courses
• MA: 66 courses
• MA (Hons): 1 course
• MNSW (Mental Health Nursing and Social Work): 4 courses 
• MSc: 20 courses
• PG Dip: 77 courses [1]

[note 1: The postgraduate diploma includes the Postgraduate Diploma Masters exit route. This is an option for postgraduate students who are unable to complete the dissertation element of their course, for example due to extenuating personal circumstances, such as ill health. Note: These courses are not open to admissions.]

The regional picture

Our regional data shows that regions across England have a different uptake of course type. In London, the number of postgraduate courses are more than double the number of undergraduate courses. The East is the only region to offer more undergraduate courses than postgraduate courses.

As part of our regulatory processes, we do not currently collate the number of students in each region. We hope to explore this further in the future through our own education quality assurance processes and independent research.

Regional breakdown as at 30 November 2022:

• East
  • Undergraduate courses: 18
  • Postgraduate courses: 15*
  • Course providers: 9
• London
  • Undergraduate courses: 16
  • Postgraduate courses: 37*
  • Course providers: 16
• Midlands
  • Undergraduate courses: 23
  • Postgraduate courses: 25*
  • Course providers: 14
• North East
  • Undergraduate courses: 6
  • Postgraduate courses: 6*
  • Course providers: 5
• North West
  • Undergraduate courses: 22
  • Postgraduate courses: 30*
  • Course providers: 11
• South East
  • Undergraduate courses: 22
  • Postgraduate courses: 26*
  • Course providers: 11
• South West
  • Undergraduate courses: 10
  • Postgraduate courses: 10*
  • Course providers: 7
• Yorkshire and Humber
  • Undergraduate courses: 12
  • Postgraduate courses: 19*
  • Course providers: 10

* Figures include exit routes

Implementing new standards in education and training

In September 2021, a year later than planned due to the pandemic, we launched our new education and training standards. Updating these standards was an important step in our journey to improve the quality and consistency of social work education and training. It aims to improve the outcomes for social work students, helping to ensure that they are equipped and prepared with the necessary knowledge, skills, behaviours and values to begin their careers.

The changes we made included:

• An increased focus on equality, diversity and inclusion
• Strengthening involvement from people with lived experience in the design and delivery of courses
• Emphasising educational and pastoral support for students
• Providing more detailed requirements for admissions
• A requirement that social work students must spend at least 200 days gaining experience and learning in practice settings.

Our professional standards for social workers set out what a social worker in England must know, understand and be able to do. They are the vehicle through which we as the regulator can improve support and protect the public. Our education and training standards are therefore designed to ensure that the social workers of tomorrow can realise their potential and meet the professional standards when they join the register.

We approve and monitor new and existing social work courses and re-approve courses every 6 years. The reapproval cycle aligns with the academic calendar and runs from September to August each year. Our first reapproval cycle is initially taking place over 3 years. During this time we will carry out an inspection of every current social work initial education and training course in England. This shorter period allows us an early opportunity to consider the reapproval cycle and the learning from it.

The reapproval cycle

As at 30 November 2022, we had started 198 inspections of social work courses since we began regulating social workers, and 99 of these inspections had concluded. Of the 99 concluded inspections:

• 23 courses had been approved
• 76 courses had been approved with conditions

In August 2022 we completed the first year of inspections. Early feedback shows an emerging commonality in the standards that course providers have conditions set against. These include conditions:

• to ensure course providers inform applicants of all course details so they can make an informed choice on whether to accept a course offer
• to ask course providers to evidence adequate placement capacity and the range of experiences available within placement for their cohort sizes
• to ensure that employers, practitioners and people with lived experience of social work have their views incorporated into the design and ongoing development and review of the curriculum.

Overall, there has been a positive response from the course providers involved in this first reapproval cycle. Some have shared that they found the process to be a supportive and collaborative experience. We will continue to share our learning and findings from the reapproval process over time.

Case study: Why did I choose to work in social work education?

“I am constantly curious, and I strongly believe that human diversity is the most important driver which generates authentic learning. I learn most from people I work with, students, people with lived experience of social work, practitioners, and communities. Being a social work academic does require a continuous exercise of negotiating your professional identity. On one hand you may no longer practise, but at the same time you do work with future generations of social workers and this means heightened responsibility towards wider societal values, particularly social justice.

“As social work academics we are responsible for ensuring that our students gain the professional knowledge, skills and values necessary to practice social work effectively. But what I often cherish most is being in a class full of students who have the motivation to question the information given to them, come up with their own version of tackling a difficult situation and develop their own strategies of how to respond to the social reality presented. It is in moments like these where my main role becomes one of a facilitator and connector and I do humbly value being part of such learning communities, where the energy of thinking and exploring is almost tangible.”

Social worker and lecturer

Learning through lived experience

Our education and training standards require that people with lived experience of social work are involved in the design and delivery of all social work courses in England. By sharing their experience, they provide unique insight and help demonstrate the value of social work. This can empower students and help them understand the role they can play in people’s lives through best practice of social work.

Co-production is vital in ensuring that a course is current, relevant and provides social workers with the skills and knowledge to be able to support others. The involvement of people with lived experience can be seen across the whole student journey. Their involvement can include:

• Helping education providers decide which applicants are suitable to study social work
• Supporting preparation for practice
• Shaping assessments
• Engaging in teaching and learning
• Sharing their expertise to improve course curriculums over time.

Case study: Co-producing social work education:

“We are part of a service user and carer involvement group for a university that supports social work education with lived experience. Individuals bring a wide range of lived and learned experience and are engaged as ‘experts by experience’ on all the social work courses. Input from group members is treated with equity and parity regarding the co-production of modules, teaching and training.

“When the university’s social work degree courses were re-written ahead of the 2021/2022 academic year, the pre-placement skills module was not co‑produced with the core group. We reviewed this as a matter of urgency, having direct discussions with the incoming module leader. Together, we scoped out a new framework for course delivery and this academic year it has been fully co‑produced.

“The group wrote course content, the summative assessment case study, the briefing for actors (playing the service user in the summative assessment role‑play), the assessment templates, process and proformas, and agreed scoring and student feedback mechanisms – embedding equity between group members and academics at every stage.

“The engagement with students by the group, as experts by experience, delivers a richer, more authentic and real‑life experience. In turn, this helps to prepare the students to be more confident to start their initial placements. We believe the degree to which this is successful is directly related to the quality of real, embedded co‑production.”

Service user and care involvement (SUCI) group co‑ordinator and a member of the SUCI core group

Learning through placements

As part of their learning, social work students spend time in practice settings to further develop their knowledge, skills, behaviours, and values. This allows students the opportunity to work with social workers and other professionals, to apply their learning in practice whilst developing decision making and case management skills and to build professional relationships with the people they support. Students also have the opportunity to learn by example from their practice educator whilst on placement.

Practice educators encourage students to develop a good understanding of best practice with appropriate supervision, assessment and oversight, and provide a reflective space to develop and progress. Some students have a link supervisor, or a work‑based supervisor, in their placement organisation. A link supervisor is common if the practice educator is based off site.

They support students in their day‑to‑day work during placement, and contribute towards the students’ learning and development, as well as assessment.

Placement requirements

Students must spend a minimum of 200 days in at least 2 practice settings which provide contrasting experiences.

At least one of them must be in a statutory setting, providing experience of statutory social work tasks involving high risk decision making and legal interventions.

We know that organising, supervising, or undertaking learning in practice settings requires a great deal of resource, commitment and collaboration. This ensures that practice learning opportunities are safe, supported and provide a high-quality learning experience for social work students. We will continue to work with course providers to address any challenges we see developing through our reapproval cycle, monitor responses to conditions and promote shared learning between higher education institutions.

Equal opportunity in practice learning 

Our education and training standards also require that students are given the opportunity to work with, and learn from, multidisciplinary teams, including in integrated settings. This provides students with an invaluable opportunity to learn from other allied health and care professionals. It also teaches them the wider context in which social work practice is delivered. As we continue to evaluate placement settings in our reapproval cycle, we will be able to champion the value that learning from a variety of placement settings can bring, no matter which settings graduates go on to choose.

It is essential that social work students gain a broad experience of practice and the work environment. These rich and varied experiences of practice allow students from all backgrounds the opportunity to consider their future career paths, providing graduates with the flexibility to work in different areas of social work throughout their career.

Case study: The importance of experiencing different settings:

“I am currently completing my final placement in a domestic abuse service. This is a non‑statutory community based service that provides support for women, men and children who have experienced domestic abuse and other forms of gender based violence including people involved in sex working. The aim of the service is to empower, increase independence and rebuild victims’ lives free from violence.

“In a non‑statutory agency you are given the opportunity to experience work through quality assessment, intervention and support. You are given the opportunity to challenge and promote change whilst working with other voluntary and statutory organisations.

“Voluntary organisations are the backbone of support in England. They are fundamental in providing the tools and skills needed for service users to survive and live an independent life.”

3rd year student

“My 3rd year placement was statutory, within a local authority’s substance misuse team and rough sleeper team in the North East of England. The substance misuse team supported those around the local authority area with addictions from either illicit substances or alcohol dependency.

“I felt that I learnt a lot from this placement, not just personally but also professionally. I learnt a great deal about the Care Act, housing legislation, mental health and substance/alcohol misuse. This placement grounded me to social work and made me realise that although we are taught a lot through our studies within university, nothing can replace the first hand interaction between a service user and a social worker. It made me realise that although a person may be placed in a bracket, they are all individuals and have their own unique needs and problems that need to be looked at without prejudgement or criticism.”

BA (Hons) Social Work student, graduated in 2022

Practice education

All social work students are supported, supervised, mentored and assessed by a practice educator during their time on placement. The role of the practice educator is sometimes described in different ways depending on the social work course and route. Regardless of the title they support learning, assess performance and provide a gatekeeping role where students are not meeting the required standards for practice. They act as role models for the values which underpin the whole profession.

The professional rapport and relationship that students develop with their practice educator can have a significant impact on a student’s learning experience, as they explore their professional identity and understanding of practice. Our education and training standards require all practice educators to be on our register, and to have relevant and current knowledge, skills and experience to support safe and effective learning.

Through our inspection process we have observed that practice educators are working in an environment where each education provider has their own distinct documentation, assessment criteria, expectations, package of support, and methods of communication with regards to practice learning. Communication between practice educators and course providers, and employers and course providers, is integral to ensuring that students are supported and that any issues with their practice can be discussed and resolved. However, we understand that supporting students year-on-year in placement settings where there are multiple students from different providers can create an additional administrative burden when undertaking the practice educator role.

Although practice educators may face challenges in performing this role, it can also be a great opportunity to develop their own skills. They can also challenge their own practice through interactions with students. Most importantly, practice educators take pride in nurturing students and helping them develop their practice. This is something which will positively help shape their careers and potentially inspire them to become practice educators themselves later in their career.

Case study: The importance of practice educators:

“Each practice educator differs in the way in which they play their role and experiences can vary. Within my 2nd year placement, my practice educator was off site and only supported me when completing designated points throughout the portfolio.

“In my 3rd year placement, my practice educator supported me fully on a daily basis, from the start of placement until the end. My practice educator was there to support me with policies and procedures, complex decision making, reflection and supervision as well as giving advice and guidance on my own decisions that I was making. I felt that I could be independent, knowing that I had a solid team and practice educator guiding me. My practice educator fully understood her role and having a wealth of knowledge from previous experience, I knew that no matter what challenge confronted me I would be able to seek advice and get an answer that would match.

“I felt that I was fully supported throughout my placements and if I had questions to ask there would always be someone who could give me an answer. I felt that my case load was proportionate to my abilities and over time my abilities grew and my case load became more complex. This was monitored on a weekly basis within supervision as well as daily during team meetings and discussions.

“I would not change anything about the role that my practice educator played within my placement. The format and role that a practice educator plays within a student’s learning and development is an important one and the way in which the portfolio and duties of a practice educator are set out are solid in giving the best experience for a student social worker.”

BA (Hons) Social Work student, graduated in 2022

Although the role of the practice educator is not currently regulated, the Practice Educator Professional Standards, developed by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), sets out requirements and responsibilities of the role. Through our research and consultation on readiness for professional practice, practice educators have expressed a desire to have a closer relationship with us and there has been some initial support for increased regulation of this role. We want to strengthen our relationship with practice educators because effective practice placements are essential to the success of social work students. Over time, we also want to streamline and simplify the requirements that practice educators, employers and education providers work with in their teaching and assessment of students.

Equality, diversity, inclusion and the student experience

Our education and training standards require that education providers embed equality, diversity and inclusion throughout all qualifying social work courses. This spans many different areas of course design and delivery, from admissions to student assessment and progression. We use our reapproval inspections as an opportunity to understand how institutions are ensuring these values are embedded within social work education. The experiences included here are not exhaustive but instead are included to demonstrate how social work education can provide an inclusive space.

The experience of Black and ethnic minority students

The murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to a wider understanding of the inequality faced by people of Black heritage and gave rise to a renewed focus on improving social justice and equality. Many global movements that followed worked towards raising the profile of issues facing marginalised groups and highlighting the inequalities they faced. The learning from this has helped institutions, as well as individuals, better understand systemic failures that result in inequality for Black and ethnic minority people. It encouraged higher education institutions to further understand the experiences of Black and ethnic minority students and embed anti-racist practices within their teaching. Positive action towards tackling this marginalisation, supporting individuals from the start of their education and training and throughout their professional careers must be continued.

We have a commitment to ensure that the profession champions anti‑racist, anti‑oppressive and anti‑discriminatory practice. To do this we must understand the experience of Black and ethnic minority students.

In January 2021 we commissioned research on social work education and training, part of which explored social work students’ experience of equality, diversity and inclusion. Of the students questioned:

• 90.4% agreed that anti-oppressive practice was taught on their social work course
• 93.6% agreed that anti-discriminatory practice was taught
• 70% agreed that anti-racist practice was taught
• 78.2% agreed that cultural sensitivity was taught.

Case study: Embedding anti-racist practice in social work education:

"The Anti-Racist Practice in the Social Work Curriculum working group brings students and staff together to share knowledge and experience, and explore how to better embed anti-racist practice in the curriculum.

From a student survey conducted across our social work programmes, a number of important issues arose. These included the lack of diversity of the staff group, and the need to support colleagues’ confidence and commitment to anti-racist teaching. Students also wanted further opportunities to engage with diversity and difference, including in relation to religion and faith, and underlined the importance of drawing on international perspectives. They also highlighted negative experiences faced by some students on placement, particularly for Black students, and raised the general lack of awareness of where incidents of racism or other forms of discrimination should be reported.

To address the issues, actions include working to ensure our teaching mainstreams anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice from the start, to give students the tools to engage with and apply learning in these areas throughout the rest of the programme. We are scaffolding learning about race and racism, building on this at each level of study, and exploring how to further integrate faith into discussions of identity and intersectionality. Colleagues are also asked to include consideration of issues of anti‑racism, anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice in their module reviews.

Through our placements team, we have implemented group mentoring with Black and minoritised social workers. This is open to all, but specifically targeted at Black and minoritised students. We have revised our placement paperwork to better highlight questions about how to report racism and other forms of discrimination. We are planning for pre-placement training aimed at negotiating racial justice in placement, and including anti-oppressive practice as a thread throughout our practice education programmes. We are actively aiming to recruit a more diverse membership to our suitability and other practice assessment panels, including through specifying under‑represented groups in advertisements. We are also reviewing the diversity of our guest lecturers and seminar facilitators and exploring ways that we can draw on the wealth of experience among our students, alumni and research colleagues to enhance learning opportunities.

While this work is ongoing, there have been concrete actions that have emerged from the group and begun to have an impact. This important work is also informing our ongoing curriculum review and moving forward, we will be holding termly meetings with student representatives to allow for their input into the next stages of our action plan and ensure we are accountable to the student body.”

2 lecturers from a university social work department. Both are qualified and registered social workers.

Case study: My experience of equality, diversity and inclusion:

“Equality, diversity and inclusion is a topic that has experienced many challenges in social work. This can be seen where many people feel injustice, a lack of equality, and a feeling of exclusion rather than a promotion of diversity. This is a direct challenge and opposer to social work values, ethics and professional standards and capabilities.

“As a person with lived experience of social work, I too felt the injustice of discrimination and a lack of equality, diversity and inclusion based on my race, age and sexuality. I hoped to make a difference when I chose to become a social worker at the age of 13.

“On entering social work education, I was faced with a curriculum that failed to represent topics close to my heart, personally and professionally. There was little opportunity to learn from those with lived experience of intersectional issues surrounding equality, diversity and inclusion. At first, I relied on generalised lectures of discrimination to give me an understanding of how to meet social work values, but this was not enough.

“Being part of a student-led social work society, I was able to reflect and act to ensure the curriculum takes an anti-racist approach, embedded throughout the whole curriculum, rather than being a one-off, tokenistic lecture. We ensured that the people with lived experience contributors, reading materials, case studies and references drawn on in lectures were representative of the superdiverse communities that social workers work with in England.

“A curriculum now stands where students are able to reflect on their personal and professional values and ethics. A curriculum where students have the opportunity to learn in a safe learning environment how to challenge discrimination, empower and advocate for the people we work with, and how to effectively promote our values.

“This led to further work on understanding that there are significant difficulties for minoritised communities. And that new social workers are not being given enough opportunity to truly learn how to effectively work with these communities and empower positive and meaningful change. It is so important for social work education to get this right. I feel this on a personal level where I struggled with social workers who failed to recognise my characteristics through an intersectional lens to understand the experience of being minoritised. I also feel this on a professional level where we need to move change forward and act now to be able to truly call ourselves a profession that meets values of upholding social justice, equality, and fairness.”

Newly qualified social worker, lecturer and researcher

The experience of students with disabilities

Education providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that students with disabilities are not disadvantaged. The shift to remote learning may have resulted in some students using their financial support for improvements to make their home study environment more suitable. Where higher education institutions may have provided less support or reasonable adjustments for students, some students may find a difference in support as they move from the education to work setting.

Case study: Challenges faced by a dyslexic student during COVID-19:

“As much as I enjoyed studying social work as a course at the university, the last 2 years of my study were a bit tough based on the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although my university tried their best to make sure that support was made available to all students, as a student who is dyslexic, I felt isolated because of the lack of physical contact with my course peers and the lecturers. Reflecting on those years, I realised that being resilient kept me going.”

Student, graduated in 2022

Increased use of technology within education can reduce isolation and make learning more accessible. As awareness of neurodiversity increases, some educators have told us about how they are learning ways to adapt teaching to better support neurodiverse students. As highlighted in an article by the British Psychological Society, the way teaching is delivered can be adapted to provide more breaks, neuro‑friendly spaces and appropriately adapted resources. Not only will this help them achieve their full potential, but also go some way to changing the narrative by viewing neurodiversity as a source of creativity and strength.

We know that higher education institutions are making progress in promoting inclusivity within social work education. In line with our strategic objectives, we will continue to proactively embed equality, diversity and inclusion principles in education and training courses. Through our reapproval cycles and research we will continue to learn, challenge and better understand the different experiences students have and what we can do as a regulator to champion equality.

Access to social work education

Social work should reflect the communities within which it works. This is only possible when the prospect of becoming a social worker appeals to people from a broad range of backgrounds, and when routes into social work are affordable and accessible to applicants who may be attracted to the profession at varied stages of their working life. We are committed to better understanding the experience of applicants and students throughout their journey to becoming social workers, including their motivations, demographics and the barriers that they may face. 

The impact of rising cost of living 

Nationally, economic challenges persist as the cost of domestic energy, house rentals and mortgages, travel, and food increase. For some students, there are additional costs to consider such as childcare and caring for family members. Regionally, some social work students may need their own car to travel to their place of study or placements. Some students support their income with part-time employment whilst studying to cover the cost of student fees and cost of living. This makes for a challenging landscape for students, where placement requirements reduce the time available to them to spend in paid employment.

Although there are university and employer bursaries available to support social work students through their studies, there are normally fewer bursaries available than student places. The allocation of bursaries is not usually means- tested and bursary rates also vary by mode of study and location. There are fast track and apprenticeship routes that allow trainees to ‘earn as they learn’ while qualifying as a social worker. However, they require students to be based in the work environment full-time for the majority of their studies.

Although there are funding options for many of the varying routes into social work, the rising cost of living may prove an influencing factor for prospective students when choosing their route into social work.

Our new approach to social work education and training 

Though the implementation of our new education and training standards in 2021 and our quality assurance activity has shown areas of real strength in the training provided to social work students, there are ongoing challenges to ensuring consistent, high quality and inclusive experiences for all.

In June 2022 we published our approach to social work education and training. This sets out our areas of focus in relation to initial social work education and training for our strategy for 2023 to 2026, and beyond.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is a crucial part of social work values and our professional standards. Consequently, it needs to run through all social work education and training, whether that be student experience or course content. Some of the experiences shared in this chapter demonstrate that there is still work to be done to ensure that initial social work education and training is a supportive and inclusive environment for all.

It is also essential that social work education is reflective of the current and evolving landscape, from understanding and embedding anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice, to learning from global events. Equality, diversity and inclusion will be a key element in our strategy for 2023 to 2026, where we will work with everyone with an interest in social work to ensure these strands are woven throughout social work education and training.

To help achieve our ambitions in improving social work education and training, we are developing new guidance on readiness for professional practice which will include a knowledge, skills and behaviours framework. Linked to our professional standards, the new guidance will help educators bring knowledge, skills and behaviours closer to regulation. This will help to ensure that social work students are more adequately prepared for professional practice and there is clarity on what they need to demonstrate in order to qualify and ultimately register.

To align with our work on readiness for professional practice and to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion runs through all elements of education and training, we will take what we have learnt from our reapproval cycle and revisit our education and training standards to consider what changes and improvements we want to make. This will allow us to respond to demographic changes, social developments and changes in social work. There will be no changes to the current guidance on the education and training standards until after the end of the current reapproval cycle in September 2024.

In this chapter we considered the importance of the practice educator role in supporting students as they enter the workplace for the first time. However, we also highlighted challenges in consistency and our desire to have a closer relationship with practice educators. Our vision for practice education includes taking forward work on greater recognition through regulation activity of the practice educator role. This will prepare future professionals for practice and supporting those new into practice. We have commissioned research to explore models of practice education and the role of the practice educator to inform this work.

You can read more about our ambitions for education and training in our approach to social work education and training.

Social workers in England

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for the health and social care sector. Along with other health and social care professionals, social workers had to adapt quickly to new ways of working to ensure support could continue to be provided to those who needed it.

Social workers went above and beyond to ensure children and adults were protected, families were supported and individual’s needs were assessed. For some, work shifted to being carried out primarily online, but as highlighted in an independent UK survey into the impact of providing health and social care during the COVID-19 pandemic, many social workers continued to provide home visits. This often involved carrying them out on people’s doorsteps and in their gardens, at increased risk to the social worker’s personal safety. The many examples we have seen and heard throughout the pandemic highlight the commitment and bravery social workers displayed to ensure vital support continued to be delivered to the most vulnerable in society, despite the personal risks.

Case study: Social work during the pandemic:

“On my final placement, I was so proud to see social workers going out of their safe places to support vulnerable people during the pandemic. Although I’m glad that the nurses were appreciated during the pandemic for the support they rendered to the nation, I would have also loved to see the same recognition given to social workers who also put their lives on the line during the pandemic. Despite the risk of catching the deadly virus, social workers were visiting vulnerable individuals in their homes, such as children in need, vulnerable adults, and families that needed both continuous and emergency support.”

Student

“A social worker went out of their way to stay allocated to my son’s case so that his gradual move into independent living happened, and this was during the pandemic. Having consistency of their support during this time was essential to its success. They saw my son as a human being with lots of potential, and made sure that they communicated regularly to help coordinate the complex communications needed.”

Family carer

Coronavirus Act 2020: temporary registration

To support the demands on the health and social care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Act 2020 gave us emergency powers to allow previously registered social workers to return to practice. Rather than process individual requests, we temporarily registered all those who had been registered in the last 2 years to the main register. This allowed them to return to social work if they chose to.

In March 2021 we surveyed all those who were temporarily registered and we received approximately 1,500 responses. Just over 100 of the respondents told us they were practising in England with temporary registration. 65 temporarily registered social workers requested to be removed between August 2021 and September 2022. 835 social workers with temporary registration applied to restore their full registration since the beginning of the pandemic.

Following a decision made by government that the emergency response had ended, temporary registration ceased on 14 October 2022. At the time of its closure, 6,200 social workers had temporary registration.

We want to thank all those who returned to practise during this challenging period. Their commitment to the profession and those they support has been invaluable.

While the move to increased home working allowed social workers to save time on travel, and afforded more focus on administrative tasks, it also led to less peer support and reflection which naturally came from working in a group office setting. Research conducted by King’s College London in 2020 shared that this impact was especially felt by newly qualified social workers, who found it more difficult to absorb knowledge from experienced peers in a group setting. Younger newly qualified social workers were also more likely to live in shared occupancy settings, which brought challenges in ensuring confidentiality of calls due to poor home working spaces.

The complex, but necessary, speed of changes to practice also impacted the supervision social workers received. Some social workers felt the length of their one-to-one supervision had reduced as focus shifted to managing increasing workloads, which left little time to consider staff wellbeing. In some settings, group supervision was initially suspended altogether. For many managers, oversight of cases and practice became difficult as they were no longer able to observe their staff in person or accompany them on home visits.

As living through a pandemic became the norm for us all, employers found new and innovative ways of working with people with lived experience. Some councils created temporary team hubs and introduced roles such as link co-ordinators to help improve working relationships between voluntary and statutory sector teams. These innovations enabled social workers to build stronger partnerships as they shared their experience on how to identify safeguarding risks with other health and care professionals. We will continue to engage with organisations to find out more about these problem-solving and innovative approaches to social work practice.

Case study: Working in a pandemic:

“In 2014, I formed my own mentoring company and joined an assistive technology company. Strategy coaching is provided alongside the technology to help individuals better understand their disabilities, and builds self- belief, confidence and emotional resilience. Social workers with a disability can use the Government’s Access to Work scheme to get recommendations for technology, training, and coaching/mentoring. Coaching is fully funded by the government and employers can contribute to purchase assistive technology.

“Even before the pandemic, I recognised how many neurodiverse workers (1 in 10) were struggling in their respective roles. This included social workers, newly qualified workers, those on the assessed and supported year in employment programme, and support workers. All were struggling with high caseloads, admin, ever changing technology and high expectations. Many of the expectations were being set by the social workers themselves, wanting to provide an inclusive service to all in need.

“When COVID-19 came in March 2020, the assistive technology company recognised that their service to support people through strategy coaching and technology was even more important. By using online video call platforms such as Teams and Zoom, they were able to reach people throughout the UK and provide much-needed support to workers. The service provided an opportunity for individuals to talk about their emotions, stressors, their fears of COVID-19, and any health issues. It also helped them to find coping skills and strategies to use in the workplace, such as using technology to help speed up written work which meant that workloads became more manageable.

“It was, and is, a privilege to work with so many people under difficult circumstances. We were, and are, presently recognising how much trauma was being experienced by workers trying to manage caseloads under extreme pressure. Much of what staff went through in the early days of COVID-19 is still being lived by workers now, either through long Covid, sustained exhaustion or high levels of stress.”

Work placement senior strategy coach/mentor

Future of hybrid working 

The way social workers adapted their practice during the pandemic has shaped how it will be delivered in the future. It builds on the practice of mobile and flexible working arrangements that have been adopted by many employers before the pandemic. The profession has learnt that there is benefit in social workers delivering part of their roles remotely and this hybrid model has proved to be an enabler for positive change.

As social workers practise in a variety of settings, hybrid working is being adopted differently within these settings. There is now the opportunity for continued digital engagement between social workers and people with lived experience, though social workers should proceed with caution, as there could be an increasing amount of digital poverty amongst those needing social work support.

There is an increased safeguarding risk in remote-only interaction, particularly in relation to the observational aspects of assessment. Building trust, rapport and confidence can be difficult to do online, and communication and engagement can be a challenge, particularly for people with more complex needs. There have also been concerns raised about the quality of learning derived from online learning which can be less immersive than in-person training. Although digital engagement has increased, large parts of social work must continue to be delivered face-to-face.

Case study:

Ways in which my social worker has helped me:

“Getting care at home and university, helped me do a continuing healthcare assessment when I requested one, signposted me to activities in my local council which got me further engaged in the community, and supported me during disagreements with providers.”

Things I value most about my social worker:

“She understands the fundamentals of the Care Act, for example, choice, and she seems invested and passionate about her job and its social impact. Her actions are positively intentional and she is personable.”

What a good social worker looks like to me:

“A good social worker is non-ableist. They don’t look down on vulnerable people and the elderly, and value the lives of vulnerable people through seeing them as (socially) disadvantaged equals. A good social worker is an ally and an advocate for the vulnerable.”

Person with lived experience accessing adult social care services

The challenging landscape 

Though the government no longer classes the pandemic as an emergency, the profession continues to feel the impact. High demand for health and care services, a rising complexity of needs and increases in vacancies continue to put pressure on a system that was already struggling.

As the profession navigates uncertainty and settles itself into permanent new ways of working, the country is facing new economic challenges. As the cost of living increases, more people find themselves in financial difficulty, forcing some individuals and families into poverty.

The Census 2021 for England and Wales shows that poverty has increased, which correlates with an increase in social work referrals. The 2022 Children in Need Census shows that the number of referrals was the highest since 2019 and the number of referrals from schools was the highest since recording began in 2014. Data from the Department for Education shows that 404,310 children were in need in the year 2021 to 2022, up 4.1% from 2021 and the highest number since 2018. In the same year there were 650,270 referrals to children’s services, up 8.8% from 2021 and the highest number since 2019.

Adults social work services are also facing unprecedented challenges to meet demand for support. The Association of Directors of Adult’s Social Services (ADASS) Autumn Survey report, published in August 2022, highlighted that there were 245,821 people awaiting assessment, a 20% increase from November 2021.

The rising cost of living not only impacts the people that use social work services, but also social workers themselves. The negative impact that an economic recession and increased living costs can have on the way in which social work is delivered, and on the personal lives of social workers, has been shared by social workers through our engagement.

Perceptions from the profession 

In January 2020, we commissioned YouGov to conduct research to understand the perceptions of social work in England. Social workers felt proud of their profession and the impact their practice has on people’s lives. However, they also felt the stress and pressure from having to manage high workloads.

2 years later, we asked social workers at our engagement events in July 2022 to share their thoughts about social work now. They said:

“Some processes are more efficient now due to learning from the pandemic and remote working.”

“It’s very busy but still enjoying the job.”

“Feeling hopeful.”

“Recruitment and retention feels even harder now.”

“There’s more court work.”

“Individuals are working in isolation and we have lost the feel of a team due to working from home.”

“It is rewarding but exhausting at the same time.”

“We are great at caring for clients/carers, but there is not enough support for social workers’ wellbeing.”

We will continue to monitor the landscape relating to social work, as well as how the profession is adapting and feeling. This includes carrying our further research in 2023 to explore current perceptions of, and from, the profession. In doing so we can analyse potential impacts on social work, and social work regulation.

The shape of the profession

Upon completing a recognised social work qualification, graduates can apply to join the Social Work England register. Following approval, this allows them to practise under the protected title of social worker in a wide range of settings in England. Being registered shows that the person is capable of safe and effective practice in accordance with the professional standards. These are the standards all social workers in England are expected to meet and uphold throughout their registration.

It is a legal requirement for social workers to renew their registration annually in order to use the protected title of social worker. To do this they record their continuing professional development (CPD) in their online account and make a declaration that they will continue to uphold the professional standards. This is a fundamental part of professional regulation as social workers demonstrate that they are continuing to develop their knowledge and skills through CPD in order to maintain safe and effective practice. This further helps maintain public confidence in the social work profession.

Case study: What regulation means to social workers: 

“[Being regulated] gives a sense of purpose and being able to uphold professional integrity within the social work frameworks.”

Newly qualified social worker

“[Being regulated] shows a capability to carry out the social work role with appropriate qualifications.”

Newly qualified social worker

Now into our third year of regulation, we build on some of the data shared in our first 2 of these reports and provide comparisons across the 3 years where we have found a potential emerging trend. As at 30 November 2022 there were 100,654 registered social workers in England. This compares with 99,702 at 30 November 2020, and 99,191 at 30 November 2021.

Area of social work practice

For the first time we are able to share which area social workers practice in. As at 30 November 2022:

• 52,454 (52.1%) work in children and families’ social care.
• 31,379 (31.2%) work in adults social care.
• 7,018 (7.0%) work in other areas of social work. This includes: criminal justice; domestic abuse; lecturer or other academic; substance misuse; unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees; and other specialist services.

Providing this information during registration is not a mandatory requirement for social workers. As such, we do not have employment information and/or the sector type for 9,803 (9.7%) social workers.

As at 30 November 2022, the 3 most common areas in which social workers practise are:

1. Child in need and child protection – 20,254 (20.1%)
2. Children and families – other – 13,814 (13.7%)
3. Fostering, special guardianship and adoption, residential – 10,320 (10.3%)

Table shows the number and percentage of social workers by area of practice in the 2021 to 2022 registration year: 

Gender identity

When joining the register or renewing their registration, social workers are asked for their gender identity data. We do this as part of meeting the public sector equality duty, and in accordance with our registration rules. Gender identity itself is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. However, we chose to use this term in our rules following a public consultation. 

Of all social workers registered with us:

• 82.9% recorded their gender identity as female
• 17.0% recorded their gender identity as male
• Less than 0.05% preferred not to record their gender identity
• 0.04% self-described.

These figures have remained consistent over the last 3 years.

Age

When joining the register or renewing their registration, social workers are asked to provide their date of birth in accordance with our registration rules and as part of meeting the public sector equality duty.

There is a diverse age range within the profession, with 1,762 (1.8%) of all registered social workers aged 24 or under, and 13,846 (13.8%) aged 60 or over. The average age of a social worker in England is 46, which is similar across all regions.

These figures have remained stable over the first 3 years of our regulation. Though this may suggest that we do not have an ageing workforce, this is not a long enough period of time to provide reliable analysis. We will continue to monitor the trends over the coming years to consider if this is a longer-term theme.

Number of social workers by age in the 2021 to 2022 registration year

• 24 years old or under: 1,762
• 25 to 29 years old: 7,701
• 30 to 34 years old: 11,332
• 35 to 39 years old: 13,798
• 40 to 44 years old: 13,783
• 45 to 49 years old: 12,391
• 50 to 54 years old: 13,147
• 55 to 59 years old: 12,894
• 60 years old or over: 13,846

Length of time on the register

As well as age, we can also share how long social workers have been on the register. We are only able to provide this accurately up to 10 years, as we only hold information from when the Health and Care Professions Council became the regulator in 2012.

In the 2021 to 2022 registration year, 5,335 social workers left the register and 6,715 joined the register. The number of social workers who left the register does not include social workers who failed to renew their registration by 30 November 2022, as we are unable to say at the time of writing the report which of those had chosen to leave the register. The average age of those leaving the register was 53 years.

Number of social workers by length of time on the register in the 2021 to 2022 registration year: 

• 0-1 years: 12,464 social workers
• 2-5 years: 19,300 social workers 
• 6-9 years: 17,706 social workers
• 10 years plus: 51,184 social workers

Number and percentage of social workers leaving the register by age in the 2021 to 2022 registration year

These figures have remained consistent over the first 3 years of our regulation.

To more accurately consider the impact of people leaving the profession, we can look at the amount of time a social worker has been on the register when they leave. Due to the way data has been collected, we are only able to provide information from this year. However, we will continue to monitor the data over the coming years to explore any emerging trends.

Percentage of social workers leaving the register by time on the register in the 2021 to 2022 registration year

• 0-1 years: 24.1%
• 2-5 years: 10%
• 6-9 years: 37.2%
• 10 plus years: 28.7%

Note: Some social workers leave the register and re-join during the same registration year. The numbers above counts all those on the register once.

Nationality 

Social workers are required to share their nationality when they join the register or renew their registration. Nationality refers to their country of citizenship and should not be confused with national identity, or where they earned their social work qualification. After British (91,380), the most common nationalities among social workers in England are Zimbabwean (1,864) and Irish (1,048). This has remained consistent over the first 3 years of our regulation.

Number of social workers by top 10 nationalities in the 2021 to 2022 registration year:

• British: 91,380
• Zimbabwean: 1,864
• Irish: 1,048
• Indian; 537
• South African: 497
• American: 411
• Nigerian: 409
• Romanian: 367
• Polish: 362
• German: 330

Overseas applicants

For those social workers who have qualified outside of the UK, our qualification requirements ensure that approved applicants hold qualifications that meet comparable standards to those available in the UK.

In the last 3 years, we have seen an increase in the number of applications to join the register from social workers whose education and training was delivered overseas. During the 2021 to 2022 registration year, we received 1,684 applications from overseas applicants, a 175.6% increase compared to the number of applications we received in the 2019 to 2020 registration year (611). Of the 1,684 applications we received, over half of them came from 3 countries – South Africa, Zimbabwe and India. This equates to an increase of 842 applications from these countries alone when compared to the 2019 to 2020 registration year.

Global migration of skilled professionals can help to address staff shortages and makes the workforce more diverse. International social workers have shared with us that the process of registering and securing social work jobs can be lengthy. Guidance on the application process is available on our website and Skills for Care’s pre-employment criteria outlines how prospective international applicants can ensure safe practice. The National Care Forum’s pastoral care guide for international recruitment in social care outlines the ways in which employers can provide pastoral support to overseas social workers in the first few months of their first social worker role in England. This support includes buddying and peer support schemes, linking with the local community, and ongoing professional development.

Through our engagement with stakeholders over the last 3 years, we have learnt that some employers also provide further information to help overseas applicants better understand the UK’s social care systems. This helps social workers adapt their practice to the regulatory rules in England more effectively. Social workers protect some of the most vulnerable people in society and we must therefore ensure that all social workers joining the workforce, including international social workers, are appropriately skilled and feel supported to deliver safe practice.

Case study: Supporting international social workers:

“In our region we have also seen an increase in international social workers applying for posts. For this cohort of staff there are other areas that need consideration which are different to our national recruitment. This includes ensuring that they have accommodation when they arrive in the country, setting up bank accounts, providing information around how public services work to name a few. As the numbers have increased, we have set up a central team to manage and coordinate this area alongside our central recruitment team. This is still in the early stages but hope it will make the transition to another country easier and help retain this group of staff.”

Principal Social Worker – Adults

The regional picture

As at 30 November 2022, our regional data shows that the highest number of social workers in one region were in London (17,762), while the lowest were in the North East (5,265). We have developed our data analysis process which allows us to better match postcodes to regions. This has led to a more accurate set of regional data this year. Because of this, we are unable to provide comparisons to previous years.

This information has been derived from employer postcodes. We hold this information for 99,295 social workers. There are 32,571 social workers for whom we have multiple employment records. Where we have multiple employment records, only one employer record has been used for this data.

When comparing the ratio of social workers to the size of local population, as compared with the Census 2021 for England and Wales, it shows that London has the highest number of social worker per head of local population with 1 social worker to every 495 people. Whereas the East region has the least number of social workers per head of local population with 1 social worker to every 671 people. These figures have remained stable over the first 3 years of our regulation.

Regional breakdown as at 30 November 2022:

• East
  • 9,435 social workers (9.4% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 671 people
• London
  • 17,762 social workers (17.6% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 495 people
• Midlands
  • 17,759 social workers (17.6% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 610 people
• North East
  • 5,265 social workers (5.2% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 503 people
• North West
  • 14,801 social workers (14.7% of the register
  • 1 social worker to every 501 people
• South East
  • 14,094 social worker (14.0% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 495 people
• South West
  • 8,936 social workers (8.9% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 638 people
• Yorkshire and Humber
  • 10,663 social workers (10.6% of the register)
  • 1 social worker to every 514 people

The diversity of social workers

In our last Social Work in England report, Emerging themes, we outlined our commitment to provide a complete picture of social work in England, as we continue to learn more about the diversity of our workforce. This data allows us to better understand the challenges social workers may face as well as helping us to reflect and address inequalities in our regulatory processes.

As part of a campaign to gather social worker’s diversity data, we encouraged social workers to submit this important data and we are pleased to be able to share some of these insights. Social workers were asked about the following, but could choose not to share some or all of their diversity information:

• Ethnicity
• Disability
• Religion
• Gender registered at birth where different to current gender identity
• Sexual orientation

As at 30 November 2022, 94,881 (94.3%) social workers in England had shared their diversity data for at least one of the above categories. Of these, 93,388 (98.4%) answered all 5 of the equality, diversity and inclusion questions. Only 1,260 (1.3%) social workers who engaged with the equality, diversity and inclusion questions chose not to provide any diversity data.

Ethnicity

Number and percentage of social workers registered, by ethnicity as at 30 November 2022

Disability

As defined under the Equality Act 2010, disability refers to whether a person has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities. This should not be confused with a health impairment, which is where a social worker is not adequately managing a health condition in a way that protects the public from any risks posed by the condition. A health impairment is a fitness to practise concern, a disability is not.

Number and percentage of social workers on the register by disability as at 30 November 2022

• Yes: 9,157 social workers (9.5%)
• No: 80,6800 social workers (83.9%)
• Prefer not to say: 4,760 social workers (5.0%)
• Opted out: 1,554 social workers (1.6%)

Religion

Number and percentage of social workers registered, by religion as at 30 November 2022

Sex registered at birth where different to current gender identity

Social workers are asked if their gender identity is the same as the sex they were registered with at birth.

Number and percentage of social workers registered, when asked whether their gender identity is the same as the sex they were registered with at birth as at 30 November 2022

• Yes: 84,570 social workers (88.0%)
• No: 6,230 social workers (6.5%)
• Prefer not to say: 3,605 social workers (3.7%)
• Opted out: 1,736 social workers (1.8%)

Sexual orientation

Number and percentage of social workers registered, by sexual orientation as at 30 November 2022