Social work students in Wales to receive more financial support from September.

Today, Julie Morgan MS, Deputy Minister for Social Services announced:

• An increase to the packages of financial support available to undergraduates and postgraduates through the Social Work Bursary, which is managed by Social Care Wales. 
• Eligible undergraduates studying for the social work degree will be able to access up to £3,750 per year over the three-year course through the Social Work Bursary. This is in addition to the funding available through Student Finance Wales.
• Eligible postgraduates will have access to a total package of £12,851 per annum for the life of their two-year course, which includes a more than 50% increase to the Social Work Bursary. Further details of this new funding will be available on the Social Care Wales website.

Click here to read the Deputy Minister's written statement and the accompanying press release 

BASW Cymru's National Director, Allison Hulmes, commented, ‘Following a successful campaign led by the Cardiff Masters Social Work (MASW) Group (who won’t themselves benefit from this development) which BASW Cymru has supported throughout, we welcome this recent announcement by the Deputy Social Services Minister, Julie Morgan. This is a much-improved financial situation for student social workers and will go some way to addressing the recruitment crisis which is creating significant challenges for achieving future stability in our social work workforce. I would like to thank the Cardiff MASW students for their brilliant campaign - which has no doubt been a key driver in this recent announcement – and wish them every success in their future social work careers, as they reach the point of graduation. All of you is are credit to our profession in Wales and I shall watch your careers blossom as we continue to stand alongside you, as the independent voice for social work in Wales”.

SWU General Secretary John McGowan said, “The Social Workers Union applauds the decision to provide social work students with enhanced financial support and the altruism of these future social workers who have uplifted the cohorts that will train after them. The recruitment, training, and retention of students is critical to ensuring the future of social work and therefore we rightly should be supporting those who want to join our profession. The MASW Social Work Bursary Campaign is one of the first campaigns supported by the SWU Campaign Fund and we are thrilled at this positive result for social work students in Wales. SWU is proud to support our activist members and will continue to support member-led campaigns through the SWU Campaign Fund which is currently open for applications.”

Matthew Davies is one of the social work students behind the campaign supported by BASW Cymru and the SWU Campaign Fund. When the Welsh Government pledged action on bursaries following the student campaign, he said, “We are extremely grateful for the support we have received. We knew this would not benefit us from the start, but we were determined to be the last cohort to train in these circumstances. Working together, we have ensured future cohorts can benefit from these changes. We believe access to student finance will limit the number of students and their families from being forced into hardship and leaving the course. This amendment is an urgently needed step towards correcting the disparity; however, it can by no means be the end of the matter. We must keep up the campaign to ensure parity in financial support and esteem between health and social care workforces in the future.”