Social Work Regulation in England: Independent Review

The Government are clear that urgent improvement is required in timeliness, communications, user experience and strategic grip across the end-to-end process. They therefore expect Social Work England to deliver, within six months, an externally supported, end-to-end fitness to practise strategic improvement plan, building on work already under way and bringing existing plans together into a single coherent approach. This must include clear milestones, revised forecasts and key performance indicators (KPI) on timeliness, methods to track progress and arrangements to recalibrate at pace where needed. The Department for Education will provide strengthened oversight, with regular reporting and ministerial visibility of progress, risks and escalation points. If Social Work England does not meet this six-month deadline, or if reporting shows inadequate progress against the plan, the Government will escalate intervention, including through governance, sponsorship and statutory levers available to the Secretary of State.

The Government response also sets out our position on legislative and procedural changes that may support a more effective fitness to practise process. These include issues relating to the lawful sharing and use of relevant information from private family court proceedings, accepted disposal powers, the role of the Professional Standards Authority, information sharing, suspension, and any further changes identified through the fitness to practise strategic improvement plan. We will consider these carefully, including the appropriate route and timing.

The review also makes important findings about the role, leadership and sponsorship of Social Work England. The Government agree that the regulator’s role must be clearly focused on core regulatory functions and remain distinct from professional representation or wider sector improvement activity. This does not prevent proportionate engagement, communications, data and equalities work where these support effective regulation.

Strong leadership, effective challenge and clear accountability will be essential to delivering the improvements required. The Government will work with Social Work England to ensure the board has the right expertise, including in social work and regulation. The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care will also strengthen joint working and senior engagement so that sponsorship better reflects both children’s and adults’ social work and supports clear accountability for progress.

The review also concludes that the standards landscape for social work needs to be more coherent. The Government agree that social workers, employers, education providers and the public should be able to understand clearly how different standards, frameworks and guidance fit together. The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care will work with Social Work England and relevant sector bodies to develop an overarching framework, reducing duplication, clarifying the status of different standards and guidance, and supporting a more coherent relationship between qualifying education, professional regulation, continuing professional development, and post-qualifying development. Where the review recommends longer-term changes to post-qualifying standards and assurance, the Government will consider the appropriate route, timing and deliverability, including policy, legal, funding and capacity implications.

As part of this, the Government support Social Work England reviewing its education and training standards including the knowledge, skills and behaviours, and clarifying how they should support assessment in practice placements. The aim should be a clearer and more practice-focused framework for initial qualifying social work education, which supports high and common expectations across children’s and adults’ social work.

The Government also agree that better data, transparency, and equalities analysis are essential to effective regulation and public confidence, particularly in understanding fitness to practise outcomes, differential impacts, and the experience of different groups.

The Government will work closely with Social Work England and partners across the sector to deliver practical and sustained improvement, with clear expectations, regular oversight and escalation where progress is not sufficient. Copies of the review report and the Government response will be available on gov.uk and deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

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