BASW and Social Work College in conflict over future plans…
24th January 2011
Hilton Dawson - BASW Chief Executive
The College of Social Work and BASW (the British Association of Social Workers) are this week engaged in a feud over the future of a social work college.
Community Care revealed recently that BASW intended to rebrand themselves as “BASW – the College of Social Work”. BASW has confirmed these plans, and will promote itself as an alternative to the similarly-named “College of Social Work”, which is being developed by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) as part of the social work reform programme in England.
The decision to form a rival college has also led to a potential legal challenge over who has the rights to use the name. The British Association of Social Workers has revealed it registered the company name “College of Social Work” in February 2010, at around the time it announced a controversial referendum of members on how the college should be shaped and run. They have also regsitered several relevant web domain names to accompany this.
The debate continues over what the best outcome would be. With some social work jobs under threat due to government cuts, and social work as a whole suffering from a poor public image, this conflict will hopefully be resolved quickly…
