In a letter to the interim co-chairs of the college, Professor Corrine May-Chahal and Maurice Bates, BASW chair Fran Fuller slammed the progress of the college so far.
"BASW has no confidence in the way that you and the interim board have conducted business in relation to the development of a College of Social Work," she said.
"We can clearly demonstrate that BASW entered into discussions with you in good faith and we have been deeply disappointed by the manner of your response.
One of the main bones of contention for BASW relates to a membership deal between the union Unison and the college, which BASW claims is "anticompetitive".
"The substantial public funds available to the college will enable it to provide services currently offered by this independent professional association, exclusively to Unison members, at a considerable discount," Fuller said.
The letter goes on to declare that BASW will announce the creation of its own College of Social Work on Monday 24 January.
BASW owns the College of Social Work company registration, Fuller said, so the Interim Board of the College of Social Work has been asked to stop using the title immediately.
In response, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), which hosts the interim board of the College of Social Work, has issued a statement accusing BASW of trying to divide the profession and create confusion.
"We are dismayed that BASW has unilaterally decided to announce the creation of ‘BASW – The College of Social Work’," the statement said.
"SCIE and the interim board of the College of Social Work are in the process of establishing the College of Social Work with the support of government and the sector, we have pursued convergence talks with BASW in good faith and we are therefore disappointed that they have chosen to take this course of action."
"The interim board of the College of Social Work will not be pushed off course by BASW’s behaviour; we remain utterly committed to building a College of Social Work."
Allan Bowman, chair of SCIE, strongly denied that SCIE had failed to properly involve BASW in developing the college.
"SCIE and the college interim board have, at all times, given BASW every opportunity to express their views," he said. "As an organisation representing only nine per cent of social workers, they have a right to be at the table – but not the right to veto decisions.
"If BASW had been truly representative of social workers, there is no doubt they would have been invited to establish the college. They were not and their ongoing attempts to undermine the development of the college are not in the best interests of the social work profession."
