Independent body formed to promote the profession had 16,000 members but failed to get additional funding from the government

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An independent body set up by ministers to be the public voice of social work in the wake of the death of Baby P has unexpectedly closed.

The College of Social Work, which had more than 16,000 members, was understood to be in financial difficulties and had failed to persuade the government to come up with more funding.

Profession in shock as the College of Social Work forced to close Read more

The creation of the college was one of the main recommendations of an official taskforce set up to raise the profile of social work and promote its values and identity to the public and media.

The news was seen as a fresh blow to a profession which has struggled to raise its morale and standing in the wake of a series of child protection incidents and increasing workload pressures.

Jo Cleary, the chair of the college, told Community Care magazine: “I’m devastated with the government’s decision about the future of the College of Social Work. This is a very dark day for social work and for the people that social workers support.

“There has never been a more critical time for social work to be a well regarded and well respected profession. The college is very proud of what it has achieved over its very short life.”

Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) .@patrickjbutler The closure of the college of social work is very worrying for the safety of vulnerable children (and adults)





Jonathan Scourfield (@ProfJScourfield) College of Social Work to close http://t.co/1B9WPs4qYh this is grim news for the profession

The college aimed to attract 31,000 members but only recruited just over half that number, and many of these joined under corporate opt-out memberships arranged by their local authority employers. Its proposals to take on a number of social work training contracts were rejected by ministers.

A government spokesperson said it was committed to improving the quality of social work and was investing more than £100m a year to improve the status of the profession and boost the recruitment and retention of experienced social workers.

Profession in shock as the College of Social Work forced to close Read more

They said: “It was always the objective of the college to become financially self-sufficient and independent from government. The decision to stop funding the college has not been taken lightly and follows years of government backing to establish the college and help it become an important advocate in raising the status and standards of the profession.

“Since its inception in 2009, we have supported the college with more than £8m to establish it as an independent organisation. We have also invested £100m through the innovation programme to kick-start new approaches to support vulnerable children and families.

“We will continue to work closely with the chief social workers and the profession to champion and improve the social work profession sector.”

Guy Shennan, the chair of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), said: “We can appreciate why many social workers are now doubting the government’s commitment to the profession, given that its first action following the election is to close the College of Social Work.

“This comes in a week where Karen Bradley, the minister for preventing abuse and exploitation, confirmed the government’s plan to consult on jailing social workers for ‘wilful neglect’.

“If ever there was a time for the social work profession to stand united, that time is now.



“There is no doubt that the children, families and adults that we work with are going to experience ever increasing hardship, and the college closure is yet another blow for our social work colleagues and for service users.”