Social work regulator sets out its ambitions for the next 3 years

Every day, social workers improve the lives of millions of people. Social Work England, the specialist regulator for almost 100,000 social workers in England, is seeking views on its mission to enable positive change in social work over the next 3 years, and beyond.

The regulator was launched as a new arms-length public body, specifically to regulate social work in December 2019. Now established, it is asking everyone with an interest in this complex profession to take part in a consultation on what it hopes to achieve by 2026.

Social workers, people with lived experience of social work, educators, social work students, employers and organisations are all encouraged to have their say. This includes being able to reflect and comment on future ambitions across a breadth of services including how concerns are raised about social workers, how social workers and social work students train and are educated to prepare them for entering the profession and how to maintain a focus on processes being fair, equitable and inclusive for all.

Colum Conway, chief executive of Social Work England, said:

“Our ambition as an organisation has always been about driving positive change and making a difference to the profession and the public. In our draft strategy for 2023 to 2026 we set out how we intend to deliver on this ambition.

“We know that we can’t achieve transformational change alone. But given our unique position across social work practice in England, we want to become the authoritative voice on social work. We will work alongside other organisations, people with lived experience, employers and local and national government to find and implement solutions based on evidence where themes and risks to public protection emerge.”

How to have your say on the draft strategy

You can view the draft strategy for consultation on the Social Work England website with the  12 week consultation period running until Thursday 1 December 2022.

Feedback on the strategy can be provided via an online survey. There are also online consultation events scheduled on Thursday 6 October (10am to 11am) and Monday 10 October (6pm to 7pm).