BASW response to HPC’s consultation on student registration

In a response to the Health Professions Council’s (HPC) consultation on student registration, BASW has stated that scrapping the social work student register would pose a risk to service users.

BASW professional officer Joe Godden says:

“Universities, placement providers and the General Social Care Council have had experience where vulnerable people have been put at risk by student social workers. Clearly this is only a minority, but the nature of the work means that the profession must be very vigilant to protect the public”.

“The best way to ensure that students are engaged with the standards required of them by the HPC is to ensure that they have to be registered, and that a separate process of acceptance on the register of approved professionals takes place on successful graduation”.