The Big Conversation

What is the Big Conversation?

Your opportunity to tell us what you think!

The Big Conversation is about creating safe spaces whereby the social work community can come together to share ideas and views about where we want the profession to be in the next 5-10 years.

It's also about building a modern BASW that is meeting your needs as the largest professional association for social work in the UK. We work for you, with you, side by side. 

While we listen all year round, a dedicated initiative such as this is important for stimulating wider discussion. This isn’t just about you talking to us, but also to one and another. And importantly, it's about strengthening our collective voice at a time of change and turbulence for social workers and those we support.

How do you get involved?

We kicked off The Big Conversation with a sector-wide survey in December 2025, giving you a chance to feedback your views anonymously on your experiences in social work and with BASW. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete it.

Since then, we've been supporting you to hold your own conversations across the profession, and to feedback your views and ideas from these discussions to us through our free resource pack.

We're now rounding it all off with a Big Conversation event on Monday, 16 March. This will be your final chance to share your views and ideas with us, where we'll also be joined by a panel of BASW members and our Interim Chief Executive to discuss next steps for the project.

Plus, if you're on social media, look out for our 'mini' conversation snap polls being posted on Facebook and LinkedIn, giving you an easy way to let us know what you think on specific topic areas. Make sure you're following our pages to get notified!  

Our aim is to have collated all your views by Spring 2026, thus allowing us to then launch our five-year plan based on the findings in June. Exciting times ahead!