Four years for FtP is 'far too long': watchdog criticism of Social Work England

A government watchdog has expressed concern over the time Social Work England takes to complete fitness to practise cases for the fourth year running.

In its annual report, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) said a typical timespan of more than four years from referral to hearing closure was “far too long”.

It also expressed concern at an increased backlog of cases waiting to be concluded at hearing stage – up from 421 at the end of 2024 to 441 at the end of 2025.

The watchdog said timeliness at other stages of the fitness to practise (FtP) process were “also poor”, singling out the time to process concerns at triage stage.

As a result, the regulator failed to meet standard 15, which assesses fitness to practise performance.

The monitoring report acknowledged the regulator faced challenges due to increased referrals – up from an average of 154 a month to 213 currently.

It also recognised difficulties caused obtaining court information in nearly half of referrals.

Remedial action taken by the regulator, such as increasing resources at triage stage, improved guidance and hiring an external legal firm to help, was recognised.

The FSA said it was that Social Work England “is taking a range of steps to try to improve its performance”.

However, it added “we have not seen an improvement in the time taken for Social Work England to process its FtP cases, and therefore, standard 15 is not met”.

The watchdog has written to the secretaries of state for health and education highlighting its concerns.

CPD

The FSA assessed 18 standards of which 16 were met last year. The other area not met was standard 13 which assesses continuing professional development (CPD).

This was due to the regulator’s decision in 2024 to temporarily halt reviewing a 2.5 per cent sample of CPD to focus resources on reducing the FtP timeliness and backlog.

Social Work England said it has engaged with social workers about the importance of submitting CPD while it redesigns the model.

However, the FSA said there was a “potential disconnect” between the decision not to review CPD and the emphasis the regular placed on it.

“Having removed that review and not replaced it with any other system – but for some very basic checks – we do not think the processes in place are sufficient for Social Work England to satisfy itself that social workers continue to be fit to practise,” said the watchdog.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Standard three – a new measure focused on equality, diversity and inclusion introduced in 2024 – was met overall.

However, the FSA said: “We would like to have seen more progress with Social Work England collecting diversity data for complainants in FTP, but we acknowledge that Social Work England is currently considering this point.”

It also noted the regulator does not collect diversity data for its board members and said it would monitor both these areas in its next review.

Fees increase

Strong opposition among social workers to last year’s 33 per cent registration fee hike to £120 was noted in the report.

However, the FSA said “we do not consider that Social Work England’s decision to increase fees is likely to have a negative impact on public protection”.

Reaction

The Social Workers Union (SWU) said the report reinforced “longstanding” concerns about the FtP process.

General secretary John McGowan said: “Delays of more than four years are simply unacceptable and risked causing significant stress and professional damage to social workers awaiting outcomes.

“The growing backlog highlights continued systemic issues that must be urgently addressed. We urge the regulator to work more closely with the profession and invest in sufficient resources with clear indicators to change so social workers are not left in prolonged uncertainty while cases are resolved.

SWU has previously called for a more “proportionate regulatory approach” that recognises the complexity of social work practice and stronger collaboration with the profession.

BASW England said it was disappointed the PSA did not address data showing global majority social workers are more likely to be referred to FtP and experience worse outcomes.

National director Andrew Reece said: “We are in constructive discussions with Social Work England who have recognised the importance of addressing this, and we raised this with the PSA when discussing their review.”

Social Work England said it was acting on areas for improvement identified by the PSA and that investment in the FtP process were expected to show in the year ahead.

Chief executive Colum Conway added: “We have completed a review of the triage and investigation stages of our fitness to practise process to identify opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness. At the end of this financial year, we are ahead of our targets to reduce the number of cases awaiting a final hearing.”
Conway said the CPD approach was also being developed “to provide greater assurance to the public” about the skills and knowledge of social workers.