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PSA publishes its review of Social Work England’s performance for 2023/24
28 Mar 2025
We have published our annual performance review of Social Work England. During 2023/24, we monitored Social Work England’s performance against the Standards of Good Regulation (the Standards).
For this period, Social Work England has met 17 out of the 18 Standards. Our report explains how we made our decision.
The performance review is our check on how well the regulators have been protecting the public and promoting confidence in the health and care professions.
This year, we used a new approach to assessing regulators against our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard. In order to meet the Standard, regulators must assure us they are delivering the four high-level outcomes supported by our new evidence matrix. Social Work England met the Standard. It demonstrated positive work across all four outcomes which we assessed it against. We noted good practice in relation to its standards for social workers and education and training providers, its work with its National Advisory Forum and approach to co-production overall, and its approach to categorising corporate complaints which are relevant to equality, diversity and inclusion.
Social Work England did not meet Standard 15 for the third consecutive year due to ongoing concerns about the time it takes to process fitness to practise cases. We acknowledge that Social Work England continues to take steps aimed at improving its performance in this area, and it is constrained by its resources. However, there does not appear to be any sign of an overall improvement in performance, the backlog at the hearings stage continues to grow, and many stakeholders raised concerns about the time the process is taking. We have escalated our concerns in this area by writing to the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Copies of those letters can be downloaded below.
The judgements we make against each Standard incorporate a range of evidence to form an overall picture of performance. Meeting a Standard means that we are satisfied that a regulator is performing well in that area. It does not mean there is no room for improvement. Similarly, finding that a regulator has met all of the Standards does not mean perfection. Rather, it signifies good performance in the 18 areas we assess.
Our reviews do not stop when we publish our report. They are an ongoing, continuous process and, where we’ve identified areas for improvement, we pay particular attention to these as we continue to monitor the regulator’s performance.
You can find out more about Social Work England’s review in the full report.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Downloads
Notes to editors
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees 10 statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK.
- We assess their performance and report to Parliament. We also conduct audits and investigations and can appeal fitness to practise cases to the courts if we consider that sanctions are insufficient to protect the public and it is in the public interest.
- We also set standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredit those that meet them.
- We share good practice and knowledge, conduct research and introduce new ideas to our sector. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally and provide advice on issues relating to professional standards in health and social care.
- We do this to promote the health, safety and wellbeing of users of health and social care services and the public. We are an independent body, accountable to the UK Parliament.
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.
- More information about our work and the approach we take is available at www.professionalstandards.org.uk