Chief social workers should have limited term and be appointed in collaboration with profession

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 22 June, 2022

A motion calling for future chief social worker postholders across the UK to be appointed in collaboration with the social work profession was passed at BASW's Annual General Meeting.

It also says the role, along with chief social care officers, should carry a maximum term of six years to ensure independence from government and “representation of the social work profession is maintained”.

The motion specifically cites England’s chief social worker for children’s and families Isabelle Trowler as being too closely aligned to government agendas.

Having a chief social worker within government was one of the recommendations of the 2011 Munro Review of Child Protection.

In 2013, ministers responded by creating two posts in England, one for children and families and one for adults. The roles went to Reclaiming Social Work pioneer Trowler and former assistant director for adult social care in Camden, Lyn Romeo, respectively.

They have been in post ever since.

According to the government, the chief social worker’s role is to “support and challenge the profession while giving “independent expert advice to ministers on social work reform”.

However, BASW's motion, proposed by the north-east branch and seconded by the Coventry and Warwickshire branch, claims the chief social worker for children and families' role “has created considerable concern amongst social workers”.

It maintains the role has “been used to advocate for government policy and reforms within the profession, while ignoring concerns raised by many within the profession, including those raised by BASW members”.

Commenting on the motion, a BASW member said: “The alignment of the current postholder does not serve the profession well.”

Another said: “We should expect that, as civil servants, anyone in these roles maintains their impartiality from political agendas, and this could be helped significantly by the simple term limit suggested.

“In addition, it should not be controversial to suggest that social workers, and BASW as a professional association representing social workers, should have a key role in determining who is suitable to take on these roles.”

Another supporter of the motion said the voice of some members of the profession was being “more consistently heard than others” by Trowler.

They added: “This motion seeks to result in a way of ensuring that all voices are heard, and with BASW having a prominent role to ensure the association and its members have as clear a route to be heard in government as do other professional bodies such as RCN and the medical Royal colleges.”

Speaking against the motion, one member said: “We always had it clear that the chief social worker posts are civil service posts and anyone who thought they were about representing social workers wasn’t paying attention.”

The office of the chief social worker for children and families was contacted.

Motions passed

1. To increase awareness of neurodiversity in social work, promoting training, especially to managers, and produce a “neurodiversity policy” for staff. Regulators should also recognise the impact of neuro-divergence on practice and workers
2. Promote “class-conscious social work” as part of equality, diversity and inclusion and commission research into classism. Develop a suite of class-conscious resources and promote awareness and discussions about class
3. Consult members on marketisation, privatisation and ‘academisation’ in social care and publish findings
4. Write to government departments calling for the role of chief social worker to be revised and for the future selection to the role to be done in consultation with the profession, especially BASW. The term of office of chief social workers should be six years maximum to ensure independence from government agendas
5. Promote generic social work education; consider the impact of educational specialisation on communities and advocate for “comprehensive professional development including research capabilities”
6. Special Interest Groups should have the same entitlement to propose motions at BASW’s AGM as branches
7. Consider freezing BASW membership fees for 2022-23 and review how the fee structure can maintain current members through the cost of living crisis