Poll: 51% of social workers want BASW to take on the College of Social Work’s functions.

Poll: 51% of social workers want BASW to take on the College of Social Work’s functions.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is the first choice among practitioners to take on the College of Social Work’s functions and resources when it closes, according to a poll in Liquid Personnel's latest social work newsletter.

51% of social workers who voted said BASW would be their preferred option, with the 2nd most popular choice being the Social Care Institute for Excellence, which received 13% of the vote.

The results of the poll were as follows:

• BASW - 51%
• Social Care Institute for Excellence – 27%
• The Social Workers Assembly – 13%
• Skills for Care – 8%
• Another Organisation – 1%

BASW is the clear leader in the poll, but perhaps the biggest surprise is that the newly formed “Social Workers Assembly” received 8% of the vote.  The assembly was only founded in late June in response to the announcement that the College of Social Work would be closing.

With the government set to tender out some of the College’s statutory duties, the future for many key social work functions remains uncertain in the short term.

Jonathan Coxon, managing director of Liquid Personnel, commented: “The closure of the College of Social Work has created a great deal of disruption, but there is a definite opportunity in the coming months to bring the profession closer together”.

In the meantime, BASW has called a summit of UK social work organisations, which have agreed to campaign collectively to safeguard the profession.  The group, which includes the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), the Social Work Action Network (SWAN), the Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC), the Association of Professors of Social Work (APSW) and the relevant representative trade unions, UNISON, the University and College Union (UCU) and the Social Workers Union (SWU), have developed a joint statement explaining their critique of government policy and their intentions to promote the profession. Click here to read the joint statement on the BASW website.