College closure prompts debate over the status of social work

Confirmation last week that The College of Social Work (TCSW) is to close by the end of September has prompted much soul searching by social work leaders and rank and file practitioners about the direction the profession is heading.

According to a joint statement issued by TCSW chair Jo Cleary and chief executive Annie Hudson, the decision to wind down the college was due to "increasing financial pressures", largely thought to be linked to a reduction in government funding and its failure to gain enough members.

Another significant factor in its demise was its failure to win the Department for Education contract to deliver the new accreditation and assessment scheme for the advanced child and family practitioner status.

Worth an estimated £2m, winning the contract was a key part of the college's future vision of it being the arbiter of social work best practice.

It would also have gone a long way to plugging the £250,000 gap between its 2014/15 income and expenditure, which was revealed in a leaked internal report last month.

A short-term funding package from government will enable the college to wind up its affairs over the next three months, and to hold discussions with its own Professional Assembly and social work leaders across the sector over whether any of its functions and resources can be transferred to other organisations, including the professional capabilities framework, principal social workers' network and an endorsement scheme for training of best interest assessors.

There is also the question of what happens to its 17,000 members and the three specialist faculties covering children and families, mental health and adult social work. Comprising some of the country's leading social work academics, the faculties aimed to lead the way on evidence-based thinking and practice.

Work must continue

Eileen Munro, professor of social work at the London School of Economics and a member of the college's children and families faculty, says the work undertaken by the faculties must carry on.

She adds: "I saw the college as a major component in developing a much stronger knowledge base for social work. The three faculties had got into their stride in reflecting on and taking a critical look at policy and practice. That must continue."

Meanwhile, the college's children's faculty chair Brigid Featherstone says those involved in the faculty had made their voices heard over controversial policies around welfare cuts, child poverty and the outsourcing of children's social care services. "We had a mix of excellent academics who really knew the research evidence and had things to say," she adds.

Featherstone is one of 39 TCSW faculty and Professional Assembly members to put their name to a joint statement calling for a new body to "rise out of the ashes of the current college".

The TCSW future group says it is committed to taking forward the ideals behind the college's inception to create a body that offers "a vision of greater impact, voice and recognition for social work", and is co-created by social workers and service users.

"We remain committed to the vision of creating a Centre for Excellence, the voice of social work that was always intended," the statement adds.

The group is to meet next week to co-ordinate its next steps, with debate also taking place through a wider social media group that has been established.

Sue White, professor of social work at the University of Birmingham and a member of the children's faculty, says hearing from college members is crucial in deciding the future. "When the Social Work Taskforce recommended the establishment of the college, we did not have in mind an organisation government could close," she says.

"Let's hope that the members and other representative organisations can make something positive from this for the profession."

A central part of discussions will be the role played by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). The college and BASW have a checkered history dating back to 2012 when talks to merge the two bodies collapsed after protracted negotiations.

But Hilton Dawson, former chief executive of BASW during the merger talks before he left in January 2013, says past differences should be put aside with the association taking on some of the functions of the college. In so doing, it would create a powerful voice for social work fully independent of government.

Bite the bullet

Dawson, the former Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre, says: "The college has done good work on standards and professional development, and its ambition to accredit social workers is bang on what a college should be doing. But 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.

"It needs to step up to the plate: and all the people that got in the way (of the merger talks) - successive governments, secretaries of state, people from local authorities and universities; everyone who had a snobbish attitude towards BASW - need to put that aside.

"There is only one show in town now and BASW needs to take a lead on this and build on the basis of the financial independence and membership that it has."

Dawson adds that a strong advocate for social work is needed to raise education standards, accredit career paths and boost the profile of the profession.

"If BASW doesn't take it on, then the future is extremely gloomy for the profession - all we're facing is cuts and disintegration of social work," he says.

He urges BASW to hold discussions with the college and sector over developing an alternative model, based on the medical royal colleges, and "then go to government with the solution".

He says: "The way to go now is to give the social work profession the chance to raise its own standards without interference.

"Instead of ignoring BASW and trying to create some sort of alternative, we're now in a position to build on what BASW has created and make something much better."

For its part, BASW is keeping its cards close over its next move. Its chair Guy Shennan said it is setting up meetings to discuss what impact the closure of the college has on the association, which last week published its own future vision paper.

"We are already a strong, independent voice for social work and we want to continue increasing our membership," he says. "We are thriving and I don't see the need for another professional body."

He adds that the association has not held discussions over specific college functions it could take on. "We've spent considerable time consulting our members over our future direction. The closure is something we are considering very carefully, but anything we do would have to fit in with our business plan."

Featherstone, also a BASW member, says she would be "happy" to talk to the association over what role it could play in the future, but is sceptical it has the capacity to take on college functions.

"I don't know how much room there is within BASW," she says. "If we can build a mass movement organisation committed to standards of excellence and working with social workers, I'll personally talk to anyone. BASW is a really big part of that.

"While I remain committed to moving on and a good deal of engagement from the sector, we have lost something quite precious - it is tragic we're not going to have a college."

EXPERT VIEW: COLLEGE CLOSURE REFLECTS GOVERNMENT'S LOSS OF FAITH IN SOCIAL WORK

By Jane Held, independent local safeguarding children board chair in Leeds and Birmingham*

I have to admit, I heard the news about The College of Social Work with a sinking heart and a sense of "not again". It is, after all, not that long ago that the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) was facing the same sudden and unwelcome end. Born, with some significant labour pains out of both CWDC and, significantly, the Social Work Taskforce, hopes were high that social work at long last had one neutral champion body, creating a professional identify and a new and respected professional.

So, why has the government taken the current stance? It is hard to see. Government policy on children and families is particularly unclear. What is clear is that the context is one of a government that has "lost confidence" in social work and in local governments' ability to provide good social work. The impact of Ofsted and the now almost weekly litany of "inadequate" council children's services departments must surely be contributing to this. It is also a context when moral outrage (justified, but far too simplistically debated) about child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, trafficking and other "new" forms of abuse are rocketing up the agenda along with a public demand to "do something to stop it". Yes of course on one level - but becoming increasingly macho about the solutions is not the answer.

Nor is modelling social work on education. Of course, we have benefited from increasing the graduate requirements, on fast tracking able individuals into social work and so on. But social work is a very different job to teaching. We can learn from other professions, but we need a single unifying force to champion social work standards, values and professional integrity.

A policy context where the current arrangements are not trusted and there is an emphasis on creating independent (unregulated) providers, because of an assertion it will bring freedom, innovation and creativity alongside ever more central government controls is moving into unproven and untested waters. Couple that with questions about exactly what the government's new Child Protection Taskforce will decide to do brings a whole new dimension to the debate.

At a time when government welfare policy is likely to increase the need for social work, it seems even more risky to abandon the organisation set up to be that single unifying force.

*The views expressed are her own

TIMELINE - KEY DATES IN THE LIFE OF THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK

2009 The formation of a college was recommended by the Social Work Taskforce, set up in the aftermath of the death of Peter Connelly

2010 Social Care Institute for Excellence agrees to help establish the college, and interim co-chairs and a board are appointed

2011 TCSW and the British Association of Social Workers open talks about merging, but they collapse in acrimony

2012 The college becomes a separate legal entity and open for membership

2013 Annie Hudson, then director of children's services in Bristol, is appointed chief executive and Jo Cleary chair of the college

2014 The Professional Capabilities Framework is published

March 15 College fails in a bid to run the DfE's advanced child practitioner accreditation and assessment scheme

June 15 Despite having 17,000 members, the college announces it is to close by the end of September.