PSA welcomes the independent review of social work regulation

09 Jul 2026

The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) welcomes the publication of the independent review of social work professional regulation in England, looking at the establishment of Social Work England and its first five years of operation.

We understand and echo the discontent expressed in the review about delays in the resolution of fitness to practise concerns by Social Work England; an issue that affects a number of the other regulators we oversee.

Whilst we have concluded that Social Work England is taking steps aimed at addressing the concerns about its performance in this area, we recognise the scale and severity of these delays and do not underestimate the impact on both registrants and members of the public making a complaint. In March 2025, following our 2023/24 review, we wrote to the Secretaries of State for Education and for Health and Social Care to escalate our ongoing concerns about the time it takes Social Work England to resolve fitness to practise cases. We continue to provide annual updates to the Government on this alongside our reports and agree that significant improvements are needed.

We welcome the review’s call for the PSA to have the power to require information to support our oversight role and to request a review of a final fitness to practise decision made by case examiners (referred to by Social Work England as an ‘accepted disposal’).

"We welcome the conclusions of the review which chime with many of our own findings about Social Work England through our annual performance reviews, particularly in relation to delays in complaints handling and concerns identified with the current approach to Continuing Professional Development.

"Whilst we believe that Social Work England is taking steps to try to address concerns, we recognise the human impact of fitness to practise delays and agree that further progress is needed at pace.

"We will work with Social Work England and wider stakeholders on the priorities identified by the review. We will consider the review findings and action taken to address them as part of our 2025/26 review of Social Work England due to be published in Spring 2027.”

PSA Chief Executive, Alan Clamp

ENDS

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care

Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk

Notes to the Editor

The independent review of social work regulation was published on 9 July 2026.
In its oversight role, the PSA reports annually on the performance of Social Work England. The last monitoring report for 2024/25, published in March 2026, found that Social Work England had met 16 out of 18 standards. The two standards that were not met related to fitness to practise timeliness and continuing professional development.
The review recommends that the PSA’s legislation is amended to allow it to request a revision of a final fitness to practise decision made by a case examiner (an ‘accepted disposal’) under the existing Social Work England rule 12G process. The recent consultation on the new General Medical Council Order - which will form the template for reform for other professional regulators - proposes to provide the PSA with this same new power. That means that the change recommended in the Social Work England review would be in broadly line with the powers envisaged for the PSA for other regulators. The PSA already has powers to challenge final fitness to practise decisions made by Social Work England and other regulator panels through section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002.
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the UK’s oversight body for the regulation of people working in health and social care. Our statutory remit, independence and expertise underpin our commitment to the safety of patients and service-users, and to the protection of the public. There are 10 organisations that regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England by law. We audit their performance and review their decisions on practitioners’ fitness to practise.
We also accredit and set standards for organisations holding registers of health and care practitioners not regulated by law. We collaborate with all of these organisations to improve standards. We share good practice, knowledge and our right-touch regulation expertise.
We also conduct and promote research on regulation. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally, providing guidance to governments and stakeholders. Through our UK and international consultancy, we share our expertise and broaden our regulatory insights.
Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.