What is social work?

If you're worried about someone and it's an emergency, contact the police.

Contact your local council

Contact your local council if you or someone else needs support.

You should contact your local council if:

• you or someone else needs support
• you are worried about the safety of a child or adult
• you are unhappy about care services you, or another person, are receiving (contact their complaints team)

Find your local council here.

The council should have a department that you can speak with. These departments are often called multi agency safeguarding hubs (MASH), or duty teams.

Or, they may signpost you to another team or organisation who can help. For example, if your child has been arrested, they’ll likely put you through to the youth offending team.

Contact a local charity, support group or NHS organisation

If you need support, you can also contact relevant charities or local support organisations. These organisations often employ social workers.

For example, if you need support to deal with an addiction, you might contact an addiction charity. Or if you are a victim of domestic abuse, you might contact a shelter or refuge.

The NHS website has guidance for people who have care and support needs.

If a social worker is already supporting you, they should share their contact details with you. They should also provide contact details for who you can call when they’re not available.

It’s ok to question whether a social worker works well with you. If you’re not happy with your social worker, speak to the social worker’s employer. They might be able to set up a conversation with you and the social worker to talk through any issues.

Please note that we (Social Work England) can’t help you get a different social worker. If you have a concern about a social worker’s fitness to practise, you can raise a concern with us.

A social worker’s role is to listen to and support people, empowering them to improve their lives. They also protect people from harm when necessary. This is often called ‘safeguarding’. Social workers usually work with a lot of different people at any one time. This is often called their ‘caseload’.

In England, social work is a regulated profession.

This means that anyone who wants to work as a social worker must register with the regulator (Social Work England). There are requirements that they must meet in order to register with us. For example, they must do all of the following:

• successfully complete a recognised social work qualification
• be capable of safe and effective practice, in accordance with our professional standards
• have the necessary knowledge of English

‘Social worker’ is a protected title. That means people can only call themselves a social worker in England if they’re registered with us. You can find out if a person is a registered social worker by searching our register.

Part of our job as a regulator is to oversee fitness to practise. When we talk about a social worker being ‘fit to practise’, we mean that they:

• are able to practise safely and effectively
• have the relevant skills, knowledge, character and health for the role

We also set expectations and standards for the profession. This is to make sure that the public receives a consistent and high-quality service from social workers.

All social workers have to meet our professional standards.

The standards set out what a social worker in England must know, understand and be able to do. You can use the professional standards to understand how a social worker should behave or should not behave.

If a social worker is not behaving as explained in the professional standards, you should speak to the social worker (or the social worker’s employer) about it as soon as possible.

You can tell us if you have a concern about a social worker’s fitness to practise.

Social workers renew their registration with us each year. When they renew, they agree that they have read and understood the professional standards, and that they will continue to meet them.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

Professional standard 4 is about continuing professional development (CPD). CPD is the learning and development that social workers do throughout their career. This helps them to build and maintain their skills and knowledge. CPD can take many different forms: for example, attending training sessions or reading books.

Social workers must record CPD in their Social Work England online accounts. This is a requirement of registration with us. We also require evidence of peer reflection, meaning social workers have discussed their CPD with another professional.

Wherever possible, the social worker will ask the people involved what they think and feel. They’ll take people’s opinions into consideration when making decisions.

However, sometimes social workers need to make recommendations or decisions. For example, whether the organisation they work for should intervene in a person’s life. They may need to take action to protect someone from serious harm.

The social worker will base their recommendation or decision on (all of the following):

• evidence gathered during assessments and conversations with the people involved
• support services already involved in the situation
• input from any other appropriate third parties (such as police or health organisations)

When making decisions or recommendations, social workers must follow the law and relevant guidance. Some of these include:

• The Care Act 2014
• The Children Act 1989 and 2004
• The Mental Health Act 1983 and 2007
• The Mental Capacity Act 2005