BASW to announce plans to rival the College of Social Work…
13th January 2011
BASW Chief Executive Hilton Dawson
This month, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is likely to announce plans to form a rival to the College of Social Work, according to reports from Community Care.
BASW and the College had previously been in talks over a possible merger, but these talks are believed to have broken down. It has been reported that this was partly due to BASW’s concerns that the College had announced a joint memeberhip deal with the trade union Unison.
Community Care reports that senior sources in the social care sector have revealed BASW is planning to re-brand as “BASW: the college of social work” and will promote itself as an alternative to the similarly-named “College of Social Work”. A letter is said to have been sent to senior BASW members outlining these plans, and a public announcement is expected on January 24th.
In January’s ”Professional Social Work” magazine, published by BASW, the chief executive Hilton Dawson revealed his concerns about the College’s agreement “in principle” to sub-contract Unison to deliver its trade union functions. The deal means that Unison will provide employee representation services to college members, and in return the college will provide professional advice services to social workers who are Unison members.
Hilton Dawson claimed that this partnership deal was equivalent to using “public funds to enable the trade union to compete with and potentially undermine an independent professional association”.
