One of the recommendations of the social work taskforce was that an independent national college of social work should be established. As a result, SCIE was asked to establish a development group and this group has just published a consultation paper about the purpose and functions of the proposed college. All social workers are invited to contribute to the debate at www.collegeofsocialwork.org
The taskforce report said the college "will articulate and promote the interests of good social work. It will give the profession itself strong independent leadership; a clear voice in public debate, policy development and policy delivery; and strong ownership of the standards to be upheld". A key concern of the taskforce was that the voice of social work has been fragmented and unclear in the recent public debates – the GSCC’s chair, Rosie Varley, had to point out forcefully that it is not the role of a statutory regulator to act as champion of social work, rather, it is to uphold public protection. She therefore welcomed the idea of a college that would be able to take on the role of championing social work.
The profession now needs to decide what sort of college it wants. The consultation paper raises a series of suggestions about the values, objectives and functions that the new college will need to take on. The GSCC is developing a detailed set of comments on the proposals, focusing on how effective regulation in the interest of public protection can be supported by the creation of close working partnership between GSCC and the college.
The GSCC has statutory duties to ensure that registration is only awarded to social workers who meet requirements related to training, conduct and competence – and we will spell out clearly how we see the new college supporting that task and advising about how those requirements are defined. What we know about effective regulation reinforces the view that the regulator must be independent of the profession it regulates and that it must put the public good first. So, for that regulation to be truly independent, the regulator must set the standards. But we also know that a good working relationship between the regulator and the new college will be essential to ensuring that social workers believe that the standards are fair and that they reflect the professions desire to serve the public well. So the GSCC and the college must work effectively together to improve standards and regain public confidence.
We urge all social workers and students to have their say in this debate. We will ensure that you hear the GSCC voice in the discussions.
