The College of Social Work

As The College of Social Work prepares to open its doors to paying members on 3 January 2012, the list of compelling reasons why social workers should join us grows by the day.

Our role is to speak up for social work and put the profession on the same rock-solid foundations as other caring professions like nursing, medicine and occupational therapy. 

Social workers tell us that they are suffering from the financial cuts, that caseloads are too high, and that they need proper professional support in the workplace.  These and the countless other challenges facing social workers are precisely why the College is being set up.  Social work needs professional leadership and a powerful voice which is heard by employers and by government.

Our success depends on representing a clear majority of social workers, which is why we want to have more than half in membership by 2015.  Our offer to Unison’s 35,000 social work members in England of College membership for an extra £60 will help, as will a wide range of member benefits stretching from a fast-turnaround expert “helpdesk” and excellent online resources, to professional indemnity and advice and representation.

But an equally important motive for joining up will be our core role of raising standards and speaking up for social work.  As local authorities reel from budget cuts of nearly 30% by 2015, the profession will need to punch its weight if social work is going to emerge from the experience not only with its values intact, but mightier than it has ever been. 

The Munro Review, the Social Work Task Force and the Social Work Reform Board have all set out detailed proposals for a stronger profession, and we intend to deliver on them. 

We are establishing professionally led specialist networks which will enable social workers themselves to drive forward policy and practice in their own fields. This is exactly how the other great professional colleges operate, for example enabling psychiatrists, surgeons, GPs and nurses to take charge of their own professional destiny, set standards in line with the latest thinking and research, and promote excellence in their work with patients. 

As The College of Social Work joins their company, we should not underestimate how big a step this is. For the first time, social workers’ experience and expertise will be harnessed for the good of the profession so as to avoid the mistakes of the past. 

Would social work have had to bear the integrated children’s system with its unnecessary bureaucracy if social workers themselves had had a proper say in the matter?  Or the uncertainty about social workers’ role in personalised services?  Or the excessive emphasis on procedures at the expense of individual professional judgement?  The answer is plainly “no” every time. If social workers had had a place at the top table when the big decisions were made, none of these mistakes would have happened. 

From 3 January 2012 social work will have that place at the top table at last, through The College of Social Work.  We urge every social worker to join us there and make their profession count. 

 Visit www.collegeofsocialwork.org and join us today.