Hilton Dawson urges BASW to take on College of Social Work remit

Speaking exclusively to CYP Now, Dawson, who was BASW chief during failed negotiations over a possible merger with TCSW four years ago, described the college as an “ill-founded experiment” that was “never sustainable”.

Dawson said the decision to close the college due to a funding shortfall, announced by chief executive Annie Hudson and chair Jo Cleary last month, was “inevitable”.

“They were never going to have the financial base and were always dependent on government,” Dawson said.

“They’ve done well to continue as long as they have, but they were never going to get the buy-in from individual social workers.”

Last week, 39 social work leaders called for the creation of a phoenix organisation “to rise out of the ashes of the current college”, and have backed efforts by a group of frontline practitioners, co-ordinated through social media, to do this.

Dawson said: “Instead of trying to resurrect it people should bite the bullet – there needs to be an authoritative, independent social work body that can command the commitment of the whole profession of social work. The base of that is BASW.”

BASW has ruled out a merger with what remains of the TCSW, but said it will be holding talks over the coming weeks to discuss the implications that the college’s closure has for it.

But Dawson urged it to “step up to the plate”.

“I think this is BASW’s moment," he said.
 
“BASW needs to take a lead on this and build on the basis of that financial independence and membership that they have.

“There are some critical tasks needed: raising education standards and the profile of the profession, and the accreditation of social work careers.

“The way to go now is to give the social work profession the chance to raise its own standards without interference.”

Dawson was in charge at BASW from 2009 until he left by mutual consent in January 2013.