‘It is time for Social Work England to step up for social workers’

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 8 December, 2022

Social Work England must do more to highlight the “deteriorating context” of social work practice and enhance public, political and media perceptions of the profession.

The regulator should also be “less adversarial and more inquisitive”, focusing on solutions and “lessons learned” rather than “seeking evidence to convict”.

The call for a more supportive regulator came in a response by BASW and the Social Workers Union to a consultation on Social Work England’s strategy for the next three years.

The response was based on feedback from members. Asked how the regulator can improve its approach, one respondent said: “Take a more active role in promoting the profession to a wide audience, especially when there is negative press – for example, child death cases.”

Another said: “To hold social workers to account for failings in the system is unjust, demoralising and has driven many social workers I know personally out of the profession… Regulation needs to reflect our values, ethics and real-life experiences.”

One respondent said the regulator should lobby central government to value social care and properly fund it.

Asked how to develop its leadership role, one member urged the regulator to “promote public understanding” of social work while another urged it to “campaign to increase the funding for social work”.

In a similar vein, another member said: “I would like to see Social Work England more present in everyday news, raising the relevant issues. I don’t see enough public awareness raising.”

Asked what people perceive to be the barriers facing the regulator over the next three years, funding, staff retention and lack of resources were seen as key.

One respondent said: “Social workers are practising in unprecedented times of austerity. We are supporting more families with higher individual needs with less and less resources.

“The regulator fails to recognise how this impacts the ability for practitioners to perform and practice.”

The respondent also criticised the system for placing “blame on individuals rather than the environment”, adding: “This in turn leads to burnout, experienced workers who support the newly qualified workers will leave. It’s been happening for years.”

One respondent identified a “lack of support for social workers in the workplace from management”.

Asked what people need most from the regulator, one member said: “Focus on wellbeing, as without this you will not achieve safe practice. So much poor practice arises out of exhaustion and overwhelming workloads.”

Another respondent said they wanted to see “advocacy for social workers” and for the regulator to “campaign with central government for better community services and resources”.

A strong sense of wanting the regulator to be more supportive of social workers came across from many respondents.

One said: “Social Work England need to be more outspoken and do more for social workers, instead of just creating more work and costing social workers more money to go to work.”

Another warned workers were becoming burnt out and leaving the profession because they can “no longer sustain the impact of moral incongruence within their working lives”.

The member asked: “How can a social worker practise in an anti-oppressive way when their employer and the system bullies and oppresses them?”

Protection from bullying managerial regimes was seen as important by many respondents.

One stated while not expecting social work to be easy, “it is reasonable to expect opportunities to use your skills in ethical ways and not to be bullied”.

Summing up the views of many, one member said: “It is time for Social Work England to step up for social workers, being at the forefront of our profession as a regulatory body. You have the foundations, now build on it and make our profession proud.”

In its concluding remarks, BASW England said: “There is wide-ranging empirical evidence that the working environment and working conditions can negatively impact on social workers. This does not appear to be fully considered or reflected in the proposals outlined in the Social Work England corporate strategy 2023-2026.”