Annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024

Social Work England is a non-departmental public body, taking a unique approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. Our framework document has been agreed between the Department for Education, as our sponsor department, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Care and us. The Department for Education has responsibility for child and family social workers, and the Department of Health and Social Care has responsibility for adult social workers. 

Our latest Annual Report and Accounts covers the period of 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. This report reflects the work we have undertaken over the first 12 months of our current 3-year strategic period, including the challenges we’ve faced, what we’ve learned and how we can continue to improve. 

• We’ve made further progress in improving our overall efficiency and effectiveness across the organisation. This was reflected in our latest performance report from the Professional Standards Authority, where we’re pleased to have met 17 of the 18 standards of good regulation. 
• Reducing risk and preventing harm needs to be delivered in partnership across the sector. We’ve made good progress in developing our work with employers, social workers, educators and the public. 
• In fitness to practise, we’ve continued to feel the impact of a higher number of concerns than expected. While we have seen improvements in the outcomes for people at the various stages of our fitness to practise process, we know it’s taking too long for us to resolve cases. We continue to address the challenge of timeliness, and have strengthened our processes and changed some of our rules and regulations.  
• We asked for social workers’ diversity data to help us build a clearer understanding of the register. As at 31 March 2024, 97,382 or 96.4% of social workers in England had shared their diversity data. We published an initial analysis of this data in relation to our fitness to practise process. This was a significant first step towards a comprehensive understanding of fairness in our processes.  
• We published research about the social work profession and people’s experiences and perceptions of the sector. Building on the findings, we launched a campaign during our 4th Social Work Week to raise awareness of the positive impact social workers have on people’s lives. The campaign received a positive reaction, both within the profession and among the public. 
• We’ve been able to contribute to the development of national policy and statutory guidance. This included collaboration with the Department for Education on plans to reform children’s social care as set out in the ‘Stable homes built on love’ strategy. We also engaged with the Department of Health and Social Care’s strategy ‘People at the Heart of Care’ for adult social care. 

We would like to thank all social workers for their continued commitment to upholding the professional standards as they improve outcomes for millions of people in society. We’ll continue to work closely with social workers and everyone with an interest in this vital profession to pursue our primary regulatory objective of protecting the public.