‘Treatment of social workers going through fitness to practise in England reminds me of the Post Office scandal’

Polly* was passionate about social work and enjoyed a rewarding career. Rising from social work assistant to head of service, she was well on the road to her first assistant director role.

But all that changed after a complaint was made to England’s previous regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council, in 2018, about her handling of a case.

The referral related to a team decision two years earlier that had a negative outcome.

Today, six years on from that referral, Polly is still waiting for a chance to defend herself. 

Due to a backlog of cases at Social Work England – which took over from the HCPC in 2019 – she has been told her fitness to practise hearing won’t even be considered until the 2025/26 financial year – at least seven years after referral and approaching a decade since the incident. 

The impact on her, both professionally and personally, has been profound.

“It has affected the roles I take,” she says. “By now I would have been working at least at assistant director level but because of this I have held back. I am very conscious of what has happened and how it is perceived by organisations. Some are quite sympathetic; others are wary of hiring me.

“I have also gone through counselling because I found it hard to function with this hanging over me.

“I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. My daughter and son knew there was something wrong. I was very robotic; I couldn’t be happy or show how I felt. I couldn’t tell my husband what had happened because he was unwell.

“I felt ashamed. One day your career is there and the next day it is nothing. I felt worthless.”

A chance meeting with a former colleague while on holiday last year has given her fresh hope and support.

Paul Webster was Polly’s supervisor in her early career. A Doctor of Social Work with a professional interest in ethics and code of conduct, he has worked for former regulator the General Social Care Council (precursor to the HCPC) and the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work. One of his roles in the former was to filter out complaints made against social workers.

“When I heard about Polly’s longstanding issue, I volunteered to support her,” he says.

“I have always been an advocate on behalf of people in a variety of statutory settings and I know the quality of evidence when I see it. I also know a lot about due process and the imbalance and asymmetry of power in play. I felt Polly deserved my full support.”

Polly had just submitted a complaint about the time it was taking her case to be processed when Paul got involved.

A date was set for a hearing in October 2023, five years after the original referral. But shortly before a key witness for Social Work England had to withdraw.

"We agreed to a postponement on the natural justice grounds that the voice of all parties should be heard and cross-examined, but on the understanding that the case would be rescheduled for within the 2023/24 financial year,” says Paul.

“Our witnesses made themselves available but despite that no date was forthcoming and eventually we were told Polly would not even be considered for a hearing until the 2025/26 financial year. That guarantees nothing – it’s an open-ended process with no end in sight.”

Paul’s outrage at the way Polly has been treated is palpable.

“In effect, we have been told she is not a priority case. Yet again Polly complained and yet again she has appealed for reconsideration but was offered no practical solutions, only platitudes. Social Work England maintain it is not their fault, they don't have the resources, they will be in touch as and when... We have hit a brick wall.”

Despite being accused of statutory misconduct, Polly has no conditions imposed on her continuing practice. Pointing to the “illogicality” of this, Paul says: “Social Work England seeks a finding of Polly's current unfitness to practise yet the very same organisation has been re-approving her licence every year of its existence as a regulator. It’s a bizarre Kafkaesque situation where Polly has continued to work with their statutory approval.”

Paul believes some aspects of the way Polly has been treated are not dissimilar to the experiences suffered by postmasters at the hands of the Post Office.

“My encounter to date reminds me of the post office scandal. I have sensed the power imbalance. A sense of corporate entitlement and disregard for due process was evident in the Post Office. I see parallels here and speculate that Polly's experience is not the only one.”

Latest figures from Social Work England show the average time from case referral to fitness to practise outcome is 128 weeks.

There are 512 cases that have been in the system for more than two years but less than five and a further 44 cases that were referred more than five years ago.

A report to its board in February warned delays are expected to increase. It blamed a lack of financial resources, the pandemic and 30 per cent more referrals than expected when the organisation was created. It also stressed the regulator inherited 1,400 cases from the HCPC.

Earlier this year, BASW, the Social Workers Union and UNISON issued a joint statement highlighting the "intolerable and unfair" mental health toll on social workers subjected to lengthy fitness to practise processes.

Colum Conway, chief executive of Social Work England, stressed the regulator has a responsibility to consider all concerns raised to “ensure that the public remains protected, confidence in social workers is maintained and that social workers continue to meet their professional standards.”

He added: “We have seen improvements in the outcomes for people at the various stages of our fitness to practise process. However, we know that it is taking too long to resolve cases and recognise the distress this can cause to social workers and others involved. 

“We continue to look at all options for ensuring that our resources are sufficient to carry out our responsibilities, and look to make efficiencies and improvements where we can. Alongside this, we continue to hold as many final hearings as we can within our available resources and have communicated with those affected.”

But Paul says this is cold comfort to Polly and others like her whose lives have been put on hold and careers left in limbo.

“This is a form of punishment without being found guilty. Social Work England say they are looking at other ways to deal with cases. This must include a root and branch review of just how they actually formulate and construct a case for a formal hearing.

“Risk assessment and remedy regarding performance must be in the here and now: a shelf life of seven years pending is utter nonsense. 

“One simple expedient would be to take all historic cases and if someone has been practising for many years pending a hearing, reassess the alleged current risk. Where there is none, just drop the case and let’s all move on.”

Polly adds: “I am not saying I am not accountable – everything I do I am accountable for. Paul has given me confidence to face a hearing, which has terrified me, because he is very objective.”

Polly feels there is a disparity between the values of the profession and the treatment she has experienced from the body that regulates it.

"We would be crucified for that level of delay with families we work with, and they are doing exactly that to me. Eight years have passed since the event in question with no end in sight. I feel abused and mistreated by the whole process.”

*Name changed to protect identity