A new social work regulator
Nearly 100,000 social workers are practising in England, and since the 2nd of December, their registration, professional development and fitness to practise (FtP) concerns will be overseen by a new regulatory body – Social Work England.
The new body is an independent non-departmental body overseen by the Professionals Standards Authority, and accountable to the Department for Education (DfE) and Department of Health and Social Care.
A short history of social work regulation
The General Social Care Council (GSCC) was the first statutory body to regulate social work in England. It came into force in 2001 as an arm’s length regulatory body dedicated to setting standards of conduct and practice, and holding to account those who failed to adhere to these standards, until it was abolished in 2010 by the coalition government.
The remit of social work regulation in England was transferred to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), a vast regulatory body covering 16 health and care professions within the UK. Independent of government, its funding entirely deriving from registration fees. Until the 2nd of December this year, the HCPC set the standards of professional conduct and struck off registrants not considered fit to practise.
A new system in time for a new decade
Overhauling the system to make way for a new regulatory body was part of a series of recommendations in 2016 that sought to shake up and reform the whole health and social care sector.
Social Work England emerged as the new non-departmental regulatory public body, dedicated exclusively to social work, with the protection of the public at its core.
A new and improved system
The announcement of a specialised body for social workers was welcomed by practitioners, partly due to the disproportionately high amount of social workers from the 16 professions involved in FtP tribunals.
An additional welcomed change is Social Work England’s revised approach to FtP tribunals. The British Journal of Social Work reported the previous tribunal process to place ‘considerable stress’ on those under investigation, largely due to practitioners being subjected to substantial delays in receiving final decisions, in some cases up to two years.
The new approach will first take concerns to an initial triage stage, to determine if there is sufficient evidence to progress the case and if the social worker’s fitness to practice has been impaired.
It is hoped that this will speed up the investigation by painting a more complete picture of the situation at an earlier stage, and enable the regulator to make a more proportionate decision.
Moreover, in an attempt to reduce the number of concerns that go to a hearing, a triage mechanism will determine if they can be resolved locally first.
Embedding practitioners
Significant effort has been made by Social Work England to embed practitioners at every stage of the fitness to practice journey. Professional advisors, made up of experienced practitioners, will take on an advisory role to support triage officers as they conduct initial reviews and risk assessments, creating a space early on to ask difficult questions and make the best assessment possible.
Similarly, registered social workers will make up six of the 10 new ‘case examiners’, who make the final decision on whether cases go to a panel, and eight new regional engagement leads, who work with employers and educational institutions to implement standards of conduct.
Challenges
In addition to this praise, the formation of the new body has been met with some concern from the sector.
One issue raised has questioned the sufficiency of including registered social workers in the process, as this includes those who have been out of practice for a long time and may lack the necessary understanding of the current state of social work.
In addition, some commentators have expressed concern about the lack of representation of registered social workers to Social Work England’s board. Currently, the Chief Executive Colum Conway is the only registered social worker on the board. Chair of the board Lord Patel is a qualified social worker, but is not currently registered. In comparison, the equivalent body for doctors, the General Medical Council (GMC), has a 50/50 representation of people with frontline experience.
Social Work England’s best hope of overcoming these challenges is aptly described by Claudia Megele, Chair of the Principal Children and Families Social Worker Network, who identifies the need to “strike a balance between the aspirational and practical, guided by social work values, and in a manner that is relevant, fair and transparent”.
More information about Social Work England can be found on their website.