Social Work England - Government response to SWE consultation on secondary legislation

Dear Colleagues

We are Seconded Social Workers working on behalf of Lord Patel of Bradford who is the Chair of Social Work England.

Social Work England will be looking at different options for renewal of registration for social workers.

Our vision is to create a robust streamlined system that actively promotes integration of standards to practice at every level and evidences impact in practice.  We have been asked to help to develop an audit model to assess continuing fitness to practice that encourages registrants and organisations to maintain high levels of practice with a focus on reflexive practice.

The primary aim of regulation is protection of the public and any renewal framework must ensure confidence that a social worker can demonstrate they continue to be fit to practice.

The Professional Standards Authority provide this definition “continuing fitness to practise is about reaffirming that registrants continue to meet minimum professional standards of conduct and competence.” 

Why get involved?

Social workers are required to provide evidence of their continued professional development in order to demonstrate they are meeting the standards and to maintain and use the protected title of Social Worker.

Getting involved in the consultation is a great opportunity to shape the future by sharing your thoughts and ideas about renewal of registration, the standards and ways of auditing that demonstrate social workers continue to be  fit to practice. Together we can design and build a professional regulator that provides assurances for the public that social workers registered to practice meet the standards, are suitably qualified and remain fit to practice throughout their careers.

In particular, we are interested in the following areas of discussion:

• The best way to consult on models of continuing fitness to practice
• Issues in timeframes for introducing new arrangements
• What you think would work well in terms of demonstrating fitness to practice
• Key issues in relation to standards ,  professional development, providing evidence and  learning opportunities

Here are the dates we will be facilitating focus groups on,  please click the link to reserve a place;

• 5th July – Birmingham BASW offices. 10 am- 11.30 am
• 11th July – Leeds. Skills for Care Head Office                                                                                     
• 18th July –London. DfE offices. 10.30 am – 12 noon                                                                         

Liz Howard and Nimal Jude - Strategic Social Work Leads: Social Work England