The BASW England Greater Manchester branch of BASW welcome guest speaker David Redpath Smith. This talk aims to develop a critical awareness and understanding of the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community, homophobia, and transphobia, at individual, organisational and professional levels.
David is a local authority social work Practice Manager, Practice Educator and Best Interest Assessor and has been involved in the development and delivery of LGBTQ+ SW training with his local teaching partnership.
We are thrilled to announce that the BASW Diaspora Special Interest Group (SIG) will be hosting our annual conference on 9 July 2026, and you’re invited to be part of something powerful.
✨ Theme: Leading Without Borders: Equity. Ownership. Impact.
✳️ This year’s event is all about connecting, learning, and elevating our collective voice.
What to expect:
🔹 Inspiring speakers sharing lived experience, leadership journeys and practice innovation
Section 46 of the Children Act 1989 is the relatively little-known power whereby police may ‘remove the child to suitable acccomodation’ or prevent ’the child’s removal from any hospital, or other place, in which he is then being accommodated’. Despite being little known, research based on FOI requests has shown that this power was used perhaps 12,000 times in one year. This session will explore how the power works both in legislation and practice, how it fits with other legal powers in the Act, and the challenges and opportunities of working with Section 46.
Most Continuing Health Care (CHC) training is designed and delivered by the NHS. It teaches you about the process of CHC, but it can leave you none the wiser about how CHC really works or how to ensure it is fair.
Nor does it address the vital social justice and ethical issues: why are people being asked to pay for health care that should be free?
In this session, Andrew Reece, BASW England’s strategic lead for Wales and England, will help you understand how to challenge CHC determinations through understanding the legal limits of social care.
A safe community space for neurodivergent (ND) student social workers, ASYE and newly qualified social workers (NQSW) in the UK.
Meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 6.30pm till 8pm – all students, NQSWs and ASYE social workers who are neurodivergent (no formal diagnosis necessary) are most welcome to come along.
BASW Independents Local Networks provide an excellent opportunity to build professional links with other self-employed social workers in your area. These meetings are currently virtual and held on MS Teams.
This group meets on the 3rd Friday of every month. BASW Independents Local Networks provide a space to create and nurture valuable professional links with other self-employed social workers in your region.
These informal meetings are fully member-led and supported centrally by BASW, with the opportunity to share hot topics and collaborate on wider activities.
Young onset dementia (YOD), where symptoms develop before sixty-five years, is an area of inequity in dementia care. Social care has an important role in supporting people with young onset dementia to remain independent, have control over their lives, do things they enjoy and maintain positive family relationships. When social care needs are not met, it can reduce a person’s wellbeing and may lead to crises for both the individual and their supporters. There is a clear need to improve social care for this group and address these inequalities.
The idea for this group has organically grown from the BASW Independent Social Worker online FaceBook group, where people have been reaching out within the forum to share information, seek advice and guidance. Showing the need for a platform to discuss the positives and the issues impacting the fostering world. The responses have been very heartfelt and demonstrate the necessity of having a community support group, with a common theme of fostering assessments and the evolution of this work.
Part of BASW's Taught Skills Development Programme
Delivered by BASW’s accredited training partner DCC-i via MS Teams.
This one-day programme is designed as a peer learning experience and refresher, providing detailed case law/practice updates and a reflective space to support those working in-depth with MCA and DoLS processes, BIA colleagues in practice, authorisers, and mental health assessors to explore these current issues in practice.
This online forum is for social workers looking for their first employed social work role in England or for those who are looking to return to the profession after a career break. You may also find the session helpful if you have been in the same role for a long time and are now applying for alternative social work jobs.
The forum will bring you together with a facilitator and a small group of social workers with whom you will have chance to:
> Discuss tips on completing online applications
> Develop confidence in online and face to face interviews
A safe community space for neurodivergent (ND) student social workers, ASYE and newly qualified social workers (NQSW) in the UK.
Meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 6.30pm till 8pm – all students, NQSWs and ASYE social workers who are neurodivergent (no formal diagnosis necessary) are most welcome to come along.
BASW Independents Local Networks provide an excellent opportunity to build professional links with other self-employed social workers in your area. These meetings are currently virtual and held on MS Teams.
This group meets on the 3rd Friday of every month. BASW Independents Local Networks provide a space to create and nurture valuable professional links with other self-employed social workers in your region.
These informal meetings are fully member-led and supported centrally by BASW, with the opportunity to share hot topics and collaborate on wider activities.