Sustainability Plan 2023 to 2026

• Introduction
• What does this plan cover
• The 3 pillars
• Implementation
• Risks and mitigation

Introduction

Social Work England aims to be a sustainable organisation that contributes positively to challenges facing society and the environment. We are committed to sustainable development as a guiding principle within our work. This means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This sustainability plan integrates all of the following:

• our corporate social responsibilities
• our environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments

The plan is aligned to the Greening Government Commitments 2021 to 2025. These are actions that UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment in the period 2021 to 2025.

We have already made some progress, but recognise we have much further to go. This plan focuses on activity over the next 3 years to align with our 2023 to 2026 strategy.

What does this plan cover?

This plan shows how Social Work England will make further progress in meeting our commitments to sustainability. We have prioritised sustainability issues where we have the most influence and grouped them under 3 pillars:

1. people action
2. greener workspaces
3. responsible sourcing

The plan covers our environmental, social and governance commitments. These include:

Environmental commitments, including how we will do all of the following:

• reduce our carbon footprint
• reduce packaging waste
• reduce water use
• manage our overall effect on the environment
• recognise that climate change impacts people differently and in profoundly unjust ways

Social commitments, including how we do all of the following:

• manage our impact on wider society 
• manage workplace culture 
• invest in fair and equal opportunities and conditions for employees, people working in our supply chain, our stakeholders and local communities

The 3 pillars

1. People action

Our people are central to achieving our plan, whether working in the office or at home. Our sustainability plan supports our values, in particular that we are all of the following: 

• collaborative 
• ambitious 
• fearless 

We will do all of the following:  

• use our internal communication channels to inform and engage people on our sustainability journey and empower them to take steps as individuals to assess and reduce their individual carbon footprint  
• ensure that we share the breadth of initiatives that our organisation and people are involved with to strengthen our brand and enhance our reputation as a good employer 
• raise awareness of opportunities to protect and restore biodiversity. Biodiversity means the variety of all living things 
• widen our instant recognition e-voucher scheme, Applause, to encourage recognition for people’s commitment to sustainability initiatives
• continue to support people with caring responsibilities and those who wish to contribute to their local communities, for example by becoming a foster carer or school governor, through our flexible working policies 
• provide sustainability, modern slavery and human trafficking induction and training for our people, partners and board through our e-learning platform 

External stakeholders, communities and partnerships

Our external stakeholders include people with lived and learned experience of social work and organisations we need to work with to deliver our objectives. We already do a range of things to engage with our external stakeholders and support communities. In addition, we will do all of the following:  

• develop positive stakeholder involvement, through our regional engagement team and the National Advisory Forum 
• work with other regulators to embed the importance of sustainability responsibilities across the health and social care regulatory system 
• develop our volunteering offer 
• broaden our support for our nominated charities to include collaborating together on specific initiatives 
• join the Sheffield Sustainability Network, working with colleagues across the city on opportunities for collective action 
• explore opportunities to work with Sheffield City Council on community initiatives 
• assess options to provide work-based placements that combine employability skills training with on the job experience

2. Greener workspaces 

By greener workspaces, we mean improving sustainability wherever our people work from. This may be at home or in the office. We have a hybrid approach and at any one time more than half of our people are working from home. In this plan we have focused on a menu of actions that can be adapted to home or office. We recognise that everyone’s opportunity to make changes at home will differ.   

Our office premises are in Sheffield. We are tenants in a shared building and lease a floor and a half of the 4 storey building. The office is in an area of Sheffield which has been transformed by a sustainable urban drainage scheme called Grey to Green. 

Roads have been replaced with cycle paths and drought-friendly, pollen-rich planting that captures water to prevent flooding.  

We recognise that recycling is important but it begins at the end of a product’s lifecycle. We also want to focus on preventing waste from being created in the first place by keeping resources in use for as long as possible and regenerating resources.  

We are committed to working towards halving emissions before 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. This is set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. Net zero means achieving an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere of the earth.  

We will do all of the following: 

• support people with tools and training to calculate and lower their carbon footprint, towards cutting carbon emissions at home  
• increase recycling including paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, aluminium cans, batteries, and electronic equipment and printer inks  
• reduce consumer single use plastics  
• ensure our organic waste is turned into energy  
• maintain our buy back scheme for depreciated laptops with funds raised donated to our charities  
• where possible regenerate other assets including furniture and other electrical equipment  
• review our use of IT to identify how we can cut CO2 emissions

Reducing energy use 

We will continue to do all of the following: 

• use an automated system to switch off lights when people have left the room  
• fit LED lights to increase our energy efficiency and lower our carbon footprint 
• monitor the office thermostat to ensure it is appropriately set for the time of year and office usage to reduce our energy consumption  
• take a digital first approach and use digital document sharing platforms 
• reduce printing, print double sided and use recycled paper 
• use fully loaded dishwashers rather than handwashing and hot and cold water taps rather than kettles, to reduce water consumption

Mindful travel 

We recognise that transport is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases and that choosing when and how to travel can make a big difference to our carbon footprint.  

We use Microsoft Teams for conferences and meetings that enables people to meet without needing to travel. Our annual stakeholder event, Social Work Week, is held mainly online. Most of our social worker hearings are remote, using video conferencing software. This reduces travel for panel members, social workers and witnesses.  

We will continue to do both of the following:  

• actively encourage use of public transport over taxis, as low carbon transport such as buses and trains are cheaper and less polluting 
• use economic, low emission and preferably electric rental vehicles where public transport is not possible

We will do all of the following: 

• implement a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme and work with the landlord to increase the number of secure bike racks  
• survey our people on the feasibility of introducing a car share scheme   
• assess the feasibility of an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme 

3. Responsible sourcing

We are committed to do all of the following:

• procuring products and services that minimise our environmental impact 
• considering the life cycle of any product purchased 
• complying with all applicable legislative requirements 
• continuously improving knowledge of environmentally and socially responsible supply chain management

We will do all of the following:  

• ask first whether products or services are needed 
• where possible, only consider working with suppliers that can demonstrate they are striving to lower their carbon emissions 
• assess the sustainability credentials of our suppliers, including their social responsibilities 
• secure additional social value contributions through our procurement and contracts  
• work with suppliers that comply with the UK Modern Slavery Act  
• as far as we are able, source products that we can identify to be carbon neutral or have the lowest environmental impact 
• where practical, use the Crown Commercial Service framework contracts where suppliers’ compliance with environmental standards has been established  
• ensure our commercial team undertake Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply ethical training

Implementation

Governance 

The executive leadership team is responsible for all of the following: 

• approving the sustainability plan 
• monitoring delivery 
• ensuring risks are mitigated 
• ensuring opportunities are maximized

The executive director, people and business support sponsors the sustainability plan. The board provides strategic oversight. The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee is responsible for all of the following:  

• reporting to the board on the development and implementation of our sustainability plan 
• providing oversight of our approach to managing sustainability risks 
• making appropriate disclosures, in line with relevant standards such as the Greening Government Commitments and Sustainability Reporting Guidance

Reporting 

We report our progress bi-annually to the executive leadership team and board and in the sustainability section of our annual report and accounts. As a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) we have a responsibility to report against mandatory targets using the Greening Government Commitment reporting guidance.   

We became a regulator in December 2019. Whilst our headcount has remained about the same over the last two years, circa 250, during the pandemic, we had minimal office opening and attendance. We now have a regular pattern of hybrid working that enables us to measure our performance against our sustainability plan and the sustainability requirements of the government financial reporting manual.

Principles of reporting

We will do all of the following:  

• report performance with a commentary as to whether performance is improving or worsening, where relevant measures have been set centrally 
• make clear which years have been set as the baseline when reporting  
• use estimates with a clear, documented methodology where information is not available for minimum reporting requirements  
• provide context for figures including full time equivalents and floor space when considering energy efficiency 
• use estimates on energy consumption where exact data is not available (because we are tenants in a shared building)  
• highlight estimates along with actions for future data capture if possible

Risks and mitigation

We have identified the following risks: 

• we fail to engage our people leading to a diluted implementation with limited impact 
• we fail to resource and embed the plan, leading to compliance and reputational issues 
• we look like we are greenwashing, only paying lip service to sustainability​ 

To mitigate against these risks, we will ensure all of the following: 

• we regularly engage our people and review our plan to keep it fit for purpose 
• we have good governance of our sustainability plan in place 
• our plan and its implementation adhere to standards and timeframes 
• we are open and transparent in our reporting