BASW England's 2018 conference – the round up

A busy day in Bristol saw important updates, masterclasses and a key note speech from Social Work England’s top duo

Around 150 members descended on Bristol’s riverside on Friday 7th Sept, with the delightfully quirky M-Shed museum hosting this year’s BASW England conference.

Rubbing shoulders among social workers were Lord Patel (chair) and Column Conway (chief executive), the recently formed leadership of our profession’s soon-to-be new regulator, Social Work England (SWE).

The duo gave a key note speech which was the first time they had addressed the sector together.

After a read through of their respective CVs, they both outlined their determination to make the new regulator fair and transparent for social workers, while safeguarding service users.

Other updates included the promise that registration fees would not increase for social workers, at least until 2020.

The big announcement from SWE was the revelation of their new executive directors: Philip Hallam (registration and quality assurance) Nadine Pemberton (legal) Jonathon Dillon (fitness to practice) and Alison McKinney (governance).

The new leadership board was also revealed, comprising Jonathan Gorvin, Dr Helen Phillips, Dr Andrew McCulloch and Baroness Tyler of Enfield. 

Earlier, BASW England chair Andy Gill and BASW England national director Maris Stratulis gave an overview of BASW’s England’s activities over the past year, including work on many public and government consultations, as well as the 80-20 Campaign.

BASW Chair Gerry Nosowska and BASW chief executive Ruth Allen were also present and gave speeches praising the work of the England team.

The second guest speaker on the day was Margaret Wilcox OBE, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).

Wilcox urged for better integration between social workers, nurses, OT’s etc as “delivering together provides better outcomes than doing it individually”.

She also outlined plans for DoLS reform to put the best interests of vulnerable people back into focus.

Six well-attended masterclasses followed, with varying topics such as preventing violent extremism and online safeguarding for children being delivered by a range of experts.