Minister hands Social Work England six-month deadline for fitness to practice improvement plan

This follows the conclusion of an independent review, which warned that the regulator’s overall effectiveness is undermined by “serious and persistent weaknesses” in key areas.

In November 2025, the Government appointed Dame Annie Hudson to undertake the Independent review of social work professional regulation in England.

In her report, while commending Social Work England for establishing itself as a “functioning and increasingly mature regulator” in its first six years, Dame Hudson highlighted several weaknesses with its performance.

She said: “In particular, the fitness to practise system is not operating effectively. Delays are extensive, systemic and unacceptable, weakening public protection and eroding trust. Importantly too, communication about fitness to practise both to participants in the process (including those making referrals) and to wider stakeholders has been poor. Differential outcomes in fitness to practise and across the workforce are a further and significant concern. Both problems are common to many regulators, but this should not undermine organisational ambition or be any reason for complacency.”

The report continued: “Registration arrangements are functioning well, but disproportionate and poorly implemented continuing professional development (CPD) requirements are limiting their effectiveness in driving reflection and high standards of practice. Supporting functions – including governance, data, equalities and financial planning – require strengthening if the regulator is to deliver sustained improvement.”

The report found that timescales for decisions were the slowest among UK health and care regulators. In some cases, social workers had waited more than eight years for a hearing to complete.

In light of the review's findings, Social Work England was recommended to:

• Deliver, within six months, a comprehensive end-to-end strategic improvement plan for fitness to practise, with clear milestones, performance measures and independent scrutiny.
• Develop a refreshed communications strategy to improve clarity, transparency and user experience across all functions.
• Reform continuing professional development (CPD) requirements by moving to a less frequent cycle (such as three years) with stronger, externally moderated assessment of impact on practice.
• Further strengthen education standards by refining Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours (KSB) statements which set out what qualifying social workers should know and be able to do, including clarifying how they are used to assess readiness for practice.
• Prioritise improvements in data collection, data governance and data validation.

Responding to the independent review, ministers supported its call for reform of standards and better use of data analysis to support workforce planning.

The Government said it accepted the review’s central conclusion that sustained improvement is needed. “In particular, urgent and sustained action is required to improve fitness to practise performance and restore confidence in this core public protection function. The review also highlights the need for greater clarity about Social Work England’s role and remit; stronger leadership, governance and sponsorship; and a more coherent standards landscape across professional regulation, qualifying education and professional development. These themes are central to public protection and public confidence.”

Social Work England accepted the recommendations of the independent review, noting that some recommendations can be progressed “immediately”, while others will require consultation.

It added: “Some of the recommendations will require funding decisions, or changes to policy, rules or legislation. Our aim will be to increase momentum, with a continued and relentless focus on achieving our primary objective, which is to protect the public.”

Commenting on Dame Annie Hudson's report and the government's response, the professional association for Family Court Advisers, Children’s Guardians and Independent Social Workers, Nagalro, said: “Nagalro has long had concerns about the inordinate delays faced by social workers who are subject to fitness to practice complaints. These delays not only mean that those whose practices are deficient continue to work, but they also mean that practitioners who are subject to entirely unmeritorious complaints have the stress, anxiety and the significant financial consequences of being subject to an ongoing investigation.

“Nagalro welcomes the Government’s resolve to require Social Work England to provide a strategic improvement plan within six months. That response, however, only addresses the first two limbs of the Review’s three requirements [sustained oversight, constructive challenge and appropriate resourcing from government]. The response has no word about resourcing, and without sufficient resources, those improvements may prove to be unattainable.”

The British Association of Social Workers England (BASW) said: "The report confirms what our members have told us: that Social Work England must urgently overhaul its fitness to practise processes to eradicate unacceptable delays and the profound structural inequalities these processes exacerbate. 

"In particular, the exceptionally disproportionate referrals and outcomes for Black men represent a profound systemic failure. We, as a profession, must urgently address this by working across the profession's architecture, inclusive of employers and universities to stamp out urgently, what is evidently institutional and structural racism within the system."

Lottie Winson