Social Work England is to press ahead with planned 33% rises to social worker fees, despite overwhelming opposition from practitioners.
The decision, approved by education secretary Bridget Phillipson, means initial registration and renewal fees will rise from £90 to £120, with the increase applying to renewals from 1 September 2025 and new registrants from 1 December 2025.
At the same time, fees for those wishing to rejoin the register will increase from £135 to £180, while the costs charged to overseas social workers for scrutinising their registration applications will rise from £495 to £670, a 35% hike.
Social Work England said the rises took account of the impact of inflation since 2015, when social worker registration fees were last increased.
After this year, each fee will rise by 1.85% a year - in line with inflation forecasts - up to 2028-29, by which time the registration and renewal fees will be £127, the restoration fee £190 and the scrutiny charge £708.
Overwhelming opposition from social workers
The increases are unamended from those consulted on by the regulator from February to May this year, despite huge opposition from consultation respondents.
The regulator received 8,046 responses, with 159 stating they were from organisations, including the British Association of Social Workers, Social Workers Union and UNISON. Most individual respondents were social workers.
The regulator reported that:
- 96% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposed £30 rise in the renewal fee for 2025-26, with 87% opposing subsequent annual increases.
- 90% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the similar increase to the initial registration fee this year, while 84% reported the same sentiment about the rises from 2026-29.
- 85% disagreed or strongly disagreed with this year's planned rise in the restoration fee, with 82% opposing the subsequent annual increases.
- 85% disagreed or strongly disagreed with this year's planned rise increase to scrutiny fee, while 81% felt the same about the 2026-29 incremental rises.
The approach taken by the regulator in not amending its plans is a contrast to that adopted by counterpart the Scottish Social Services Council, which recently softened planned fee rises for some groups following a consultation that also generated significant opposition.
Why Social Work England is increasing fees
Social Work England's justification for the rises is to rebalance the income it receives from social workers with the grant it gets from the Department for Education (DfE).
This is in the context of the regulator's costs being higher than expected, including from the number and complexity of fitness to practise (FtP) cases inherited from predecessor the Health and Care Professions Council, the volume of new FtP concerns it has received since and inflationary pressures.
In 2020-21, its first full year as regulator, it received £9.123m in registration fees – amounting to 48% of its income – and £9.777m (52%) from the DfE.
The proportion of income from fees fell to 43% in 2023-24, before rising to 46% in 2024-25. However, the department has given Social Work England a significant budget boost this year, which will be used in significant part to tackle fitness to practice backlogs.
What the fee rises will raise
As a result, the proportion of income from fees would have fallen to 38% of the regulator's initial £26.7m budget for 2025-26, without the planned increase, according to Social Work England's business plan for this year.
The business plan said the fee rise would raise an additional £1.1m in 2025-26, which Social Work England said it would use "to further support timeliness in the fitness to practise process".
That implies that its budget will be about £27.8m this year, with 40% (£11.2m) accounted for by fees.
Financial impact on social workers the biggest concern
The biggest reason social workers opposed the increases was the financial impact it would have on them, in the context of their wages not having increased to the same extent, said Social Work England.
"Many respondents, including key stakeholder organisations, felt the proposed increase was too high, that social workers are already struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, and/or that this will negatively impact a profession that is already under a lot of pressure," the regulator reported.
In response, Social Work England said that, while its board was conscious of the "financial constraints" on practitioners, fees were "charged to cover the cost of regulation, not to align with the wages of the profession we regulate".
Tax relief on fees
It stressed that practitioners could pay their registration or renewal fees in two instalments, as most do, and they could also claim tax relief back on these payments.
This applies at the marginal tax rate that practitioners pay (generally 20% or 40%), meaning a basic rate (20%) taxpayer can claim £24 back on the £120 fee they will face in 2025-26.
The tax relief can be backdated for four years.
Impact on employer reimbursement
With some councils paying the costs of social workers’ registration or renewal fees, some respondents raised concerns that they would either cease to do so, or practitioners would avoid organisations that did not reimburse, as a result of the fee rise.
In response to this, Social Work England said it "did not receive any direct feedback from employers that suggests they would not continue to [reimburse] if the fees were to increase".
The second most common reason for respondents opposing the increase concerned the regulator's role and remit.
Perceived lack of benefit in exchange for fees
Social Work England said this mostly involved respondents perceiving a lack of benefit for social workers from the regulator in exchange for their fees.
Others said they would be more likely to support an increase if the regulator did more for the profession, such as lobbying for better wages or advocating for social work.
Social Work England said these views appeared to reflect "confusion or misunderstanding" in relation to its remit, including from some "key stakeholders".
Fees designed to ensure social workers are 'fit to practise'
"As a professional regulator, our overarching objective is to protect the public," it said.
"The fees that registrants pay enable them to practise under the protected title of social worker and enable us to ensure that all those on that register remain safe and fit to practise."
It stressed that as a statutory body, lobbying the government on behalf of social work was not part of its role.
However, Social Work England said it was taking steps to improve the quality of social work, on the grounds that this would improve public protection.
Work to improve quality of social work
These included its Change the Script campaign, designed to enhance public perceptions of social work by improving the way it is depicted in the media and elsewhere.
The regulator also pointed to Social Work Week, its annual online event designed to share learning and good practice, its convening of sector organisations to discuss key issues, including pressures on the workforce, and various research projects, in areas including the impact of AI on social work.
Following the DfE's approval for the fee rises, the new rates have been enshrined in Social Work England's rules.
'We understand many will not agree with fee rises'
Commenting on the changes, Social Work England chief executive Colum Conway said: "We understand many people will not agree with the decision to increase our fees, but we feel this necessary to help us continue to meet our overarching objective of protecting the public.
"This will ensure we can deliver all of our regulatory objectives and goals and protect the public. This includes helping us to further improve case progression and timeliness in the fitness to practise process.”
