Independent Review of Social Work Professional Regulation in England
Social Work England's response to the Independent Review of Social Work Professional Regulation in England.
Independent Review of Social Work Professional Regulation in England
Social Work England response
7/9/2026 10:25:00 AM
Introduction
On 5 November 2025, the Secretary of State for Education commissioned the statutory independent review of the operation of Part 2 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (the review), including a review of the regulation of the social work profession in England by Social Work England.
We accept the recommendations of the Independent Review of Social Work Professional Regulation in England, published today alongside the Government’s response. We acknowledge the contributions of all those who informed the review process.
We commit to take further action based on the recommendations and our response below details our next steps and approach to each of the recommendations.
Some recommendations can be progressed immediately. Whereas others will require consultation, dialogue and engagement with government, social workers, those who use social work services, employers, education providers and other stakeholders across the profession. Some of the recommendations will require funding decisions, or changes to policy, rules or legislation. Our aim will be to increase momentum, with a continued and relentless focus on achieving our primary objective, which is to protect the public.
Taking action
The review confirms that the primary role of a regulator is to protect the public. This is our primary objective and has guided our work since we were established. While we have made significant progress since we became the specialist regulator for the social work profession, we are clear about where we must improve further. We will do so working alongside and in partnership with government, social workers, people with lived experience and other key partners.
The review is particularly clear that we must improve the timeliness of our fitness to practise processes and strengthen communication with those involved in them. We understand the real impact that delays and ineffective communication can have on everyone affected, and we are committed to ensuring our processes and communications are timely, compassionate and proportionate — even as the volume of concerns raised with us continues to grow. We are committed to ongoing dialogue, collaboration and engagement with social workers and those who use social work services to ensure we get this right.
We welcome the recommendation for government, working with us and other relevant organisations, to develop a single, clear framework that maps existing standards, clarifies their purpose and explains how they relate to one another. Alongside this, we are working with government and other partners to strengthen education and training across the whole profession and our inspection process, to provide greater clarity about what social work students must cover as part of their training to be able to qualify and apply to join the register. Our consultation on this aspect of our regulation is underway and will conclude by September 2026.
Similarly, a key part of developing future social workers is the role of practice educators. We will work to develop a clear regulatory framework for this important role, building on our engagement with practice educators to date, national organisations and education and training providers. We will strengthen our approach to monitoring practice placements and ensuring that all students have access to the structure and support they need to complete their professional training.
We are mindful of the challenges facing the social work profession and of ensuring that while our regulation is robust and holds social workers to account for meeting the professional standards expected of them, that our approach to this is proportionate. We know that our focus on developing continuing professional development (CPD) over the past year has not been clear and could be strengthened. We will work with government and the sector to address this, with a formal consultation planned by the end of 2026.
As the only organisation with a remit across the whole of the social work profession, we are committed to making better use of the extensive data we hold — to identify trends, inform our decisions and strengthen our regulatory work. We are also investing in the skills and capabilities needed to support this for the future. Separately, our updated analytical methods are deepening our understanding of why certain groups are overrepresented in fitness to practise processes. Addressing these sits at the centre of our equality, diversity and inclusion priorities, and we remain committed to embedding fairness, inclusion and the perspectives of people with lived experience into everything we do.
Finally, we welcome the recommendation on financial clarity outlined in the report to support effective long term planning and delivery to maximise the value we provide.
Our full response to each recommendation set out in the review can be found below.
Our response to the recommendations
Recommendations are set out within the independent review report as priority recommendations for Social Work England and for Government, and further recommendations for Social Work England and for Government. We have reflected this order in our response below. They correspond to their numbering within the review and are therefore not sequential.
Priority recommendations for Government
Recommendation:
Government should create, working with Social Work England and with other relevant organisations, a single, clear framework that maps existing standards, explains their respective functions, their status and how they relate to one another.
Social Work England response:
We welcome the opportunity to support greater clarity and coherence through the development of an overarching regulatory framework for standards and guidance related to initial education and training, in partnership with Government and other relevant organisations.
Recommendation:
Government should take the next available opportunity to legislate to improve fitness to practise, including:
- prioritising amending the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and/or the associated Practice Directions, to enable information relating to private family court proceedings to be lawfully shared with Social Work England in a manner which enables its lawful use in fitness to practise proceedings;
- updating Social Work England’s powers on accepted disposals to enable them to impose an accepted disposal where a social worker has not engaged at all with the process;
- enabling the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) to request that a case examiner decision be revised; and
- limiting the upper time a social worker can be suspended to two years
This should also include any further legislative change identified by the improvement strategy produced as a result of the end-to-end strategic improvement plan.
Social Work England response:
We support the government view and accept in principle that legislative and procedural changes may be needed to support a more effective fitness to practise process. We welcome their prioritisation of further work.
Recommendation:
Government should clarify that the role of Social Work England as focussed on core regulatory functions. This does not preclude Social Work England using its unique position to support improvement through the provision of data and intelligence, but it should not carry out improvement or advocacy activities.
Social Work England response:
We agree that it is important that our role and remit should be consistently and clearly articulated in relation to our regulatory functions to ensure it is understood as distinct from professional representation, advocacy and wider sector improvement delivery. All the work we do supports our core regulatory functions and our primary objective of protecting the public. We will work with government, the social work profession and other key partners on clarifying our roles as the regulator of the profession of social work is well defined and reinforced.
Further recommendations for Government
Recommendation:
Government should consider, with key partners including Social Work England, how best to support the development of a coherent, profession‑wide architecture that clarifies progression pathways, associated learning and development, and the standards that underpin practice. In the longer term, the quality of post‑qualifying education and training should be strengthened by extending Social Work England’s role to include the setting and assuring of post-qualifying education and training standards (Chapter 2).
Social Work England response:
There are already significant shifts in the post-qualifying landscape, with the introduction of specialist roles such as the Lead Child Protection Practitioner, enhanced development programmes for early career social workers within children and families, changes to key roles such as the best interests assessor (BIA) and potential introduction of the approved mental capacity professional (AMCP) role within adult social work. Against this background, we would welcome the opportunity to work with the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care, and broader partners to build on the overarching framing for initial education and training (as per recommendation 1), to develop a more coherent, profession-wide architecture that speaks to the whole profession. As the only organisation with oversight for the whole profession, we recognise that our own role in the post-qualifying landscape could be extended over time and we would welcome that discussion when appropriate with partners in government, academics and employers.
Recommendation:
Government should update regulations to require that social workers, whose registration includes an annotation, inform Social Work England of their appointment to an annotated role and notify the regulator of any changes to that status (Chapter 2).
Social Work England response:
The current annotation model, as articulated in our regulatory framework, is a voluntary mechanism and we hold no power to remove a person’s annotation. We support the intention to update and improve our annotation approach, which is aligned with our ambition in our business plan for 2026 to 2027 (objective 9). We look forward to working with government to reform the existing system, as part of our commitment to enhancing public protection and recognising the current and future needs of the profession.
Recommendation:
Government should work with the PSA, Social Work England and health and care professional regulators to consider what changes are needed to support appropriate referrals, particularly when other avenues have not been exhausted (Chapter 3).
Social Work England response:
We support the government view that referral pathways should be considered further and look forward to working with the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) and our fellow health and social care regulators. It is vital that any changes to referral pathways continue to protect the public and maintain public confidence in the profession, and that the regulator is able to independently consider fitness to practise considerations when concerns are raised.
Recommendation:
Government should work with Social Work England to support effective and strong succession planning and recruitment to the board. This should include early consideration about required expertise, including in change management, particularly in regulation, as well as codifying the requirement to have appropriate social work expertise within its membership in the framework document (Chapter 4).
Social Work England response:
We agree with the importance of maintaining the right blend of skills and expertise at board level. It is essential that the board possesses experience of leading organisations successfully (such as financial, commercial, change management and assurance skills), as well as expertise in regulation and both lived and learned experience of social work.
Our board regularly reviews its effectiveness, including board members’ collective skills and knowledge. We collaborate closely with the Department for Education to inform board succession planning and enable the public appointments process to target any identified skills gaps. We look forward to strengthening our joint working with the Department for Education to consider further improvements to these existing arrangements.
Recommendation:
Government should introduce a new power for the PSA to require information to support their oversight and scrutiny functions (Chapter 4).
Social Work England response:
We agree that the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) should have appropriate information to fulfil its role. We support the government view that further work is needed to understand this new power and how it interacts with our duties.
Recommendation:
Government should work with the Local Government Association (LGA) and wider sector to strengthen and embed the employer standards, with a focus on employers’ role in regulation (Chapter 4).
Social Work England response:
We agree with exploring ways in which the employer standards could be strengthened and embedded further. Employers have an important role in professional regulation at a range of levels, through registration, education and training, fitness to practise, continuous professional development and information sharing. We look forward to working with government and other partners and engaging directly with employers on the employer standards.
Recommendation:
Government should strengthen sponsorship arrangements through better joint working across the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care, with clearer strategic direction set through joint ` oversight. This should be complemented by greater senior official involvement to reinforce accountability, to support consistent strategic alignment, and to ensure Social Work England has clear expectations from government (Chapter 4).
Social Work England response:
We welcome the recommendation to strengthen sponsorship arrangements and support consistent strategic alignment between the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care. We work closely with both departments and stand ready to support the new arrangements. We are committed to working transparently, taking accountability for the efficient and effective delivery of our statutory responsibilities.
Recommendation:
Government should consider ways of providing Social Work England earlier and clearer indications of its funding. This could include letters of comfort for its ongoing budget into the next financial year and multi-year grants for specific programmes where appropriate. Government should also include providing Social Work England with an explicit risk-tolerance framework setting out expectations around financial prudence, reserves and forward commitments (Chapter 4).
Social Work England response:
We welcome the opportunity to work with the Department for Education, HM Treasury and other relevant partners to explore how we might achieve earlier and clearer indications of future funding levels and agree tolerances in relation to financial risk. As outlined in our business plan for 2026 to 2027 (objective 1), greater financial clarity and certainty will enable more effective and longer-term operational planning and delivery. It will assist us to make full use of the resources available, helping us to maximise value for money and the impact of our regulation for public protection.
Next steps
Social workers play a vital role in supporting children, families and adults, often in complex and challenging circumstances. Effective professional regulation is essential to public protection, public confidence, and the maintenance of proper professional standards.
The review reinforces our role and primary objective which is to protect the public, and this is an opportunity for us to now focus on what more needs to be done, transparently, at pace, and in partnership.
Our next steps are to finalise and publish a clear delivery plan setting out how the recommendations of the independent review will be implemented, alongside measurable actions and timelines. Delivery of the plan will be shaped through ongoing engagement with government, social workers, key stakeholders and critically people with lived experience. This insight will inform the future development of this work and our regulation. We are committed to reporting on the progress we make, and will provide regular updates to ensure transparency, accountability and measurable impact.
Our focus going forward will be to ensure that our regulation supports public protection, public confidence and clear professional standards, and that the response to this review leads to practical and sustained improvement.