Social Worker of the Year Awards 2025 winners unveiled

The winners of this year's Social Worker of the Year Awards were unveiled at a ceremony last week.

Gold and silver awards were handed out across 18 categories covering practice, education, research, leadership, technology and promoting social justice, alongside the overall social worker of the year prize.

The latter went to Sophia Hussain, honour-based abuse lead at Redbridge council's Reach Out domestic abuse service, which provides practical and emotional support to victims and survivors and their children.

'Unwavering commitment to supporting domestic abuse survivors'

In a post on LinkedIn last month, the council praised Sophia, who also won the adult social worker of the year gold award, for her "incredible work with high-risk victims/survivors and their families, and her unwavering commitment to supporting them through complex and challenging circumstances".

This included developing protocols for cases involving coercive control and technology-facilitated abuse that are now being replicated across other boroughs, said event organisers the Social Work Awards.

Following the event in Manchester, attended by almost 400 people, Sophia said: “I didn't think I'd win anything so I'm over the moon! When you're practicing, you don't really think of these things, you just know you're fighting the good fight and you're trying your best to try and change someone else's life, the best that you can. I just feel so honoured.”

'A commitment to making a difference'

The lifetime achievement gold award went to Maria Moore, a senior social worker and practice educator at Liverpool council. Before the ceremony, the North West authority praised her "exceptional practice and commitment to making a difference to the lives of children and families as well as inspiring and nurturing the next generation of social workers".

Thabang Thacker took home the social justice champion gold award, which recognises practitioners for their work tackling injustice and discrimination and promoting equality.

'A powerful celebration of social work solidarity'

She is a service manager at Cambridgeshire council, where she is also vice-chair of the inclusion, diversity and equality for all employee network.

Following her award, Thabang said she was "incredibly honoured", adding: "The award ceremony was a powerful celebration of solidarity that defines the social work profession. Being surrounded by colleagues inspiring, supporting and cheering each other was electric and unforgettable. I will always carry that moment with me."

Other gold award winners included practitioners from Darlington council's experts in practice project, which triumphed in the practitioner-led research category.

The project, delivered in partnership with Sunderland University, gives practitioners dedicated time for research to enable them to produce training materials and tools for colleagues and partner agencies.

Practitioners 'put their heart and soul into developing research'

The project team comprises social workers Amy Waterfield, Amy Townson, Anna Yoxall, Deborah Parker, Linda Austin, Jacquelyn McNulty, Charlotte Swainston, Sharon Crossen, Andrew Robson, and Natalie Bell, therapeutic practitioner Danielle Farley and occupational therapist Louise Colley.

After receiving the award, Amy Waterfield, a senior practitioner at Darlington council, said: "Every single person involved in the project just put their heart and soul into developing research and then disseminating that to professionals who can then help the wider public. And that’s just invaluable at this point.”

'A powerful reminder of the difference social workers make'

After the event, Social Work Awards chair of trustees Peter Hay said: "The awards are a powerful reminder of the difference social workers make to people’s lives every single day.

"They shine a light on the dedication and compassion that drive our profession forward. It’s a privilege to celebrate these remarkable achievements and to thank our sponsors for supporting this incredibly important event.”

Headline sponsor the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England congratulated all those who won, or were nominated for, this year's awards.

BASW England director Sam Baron said: “These awards are not only an opportunity to champion your achievements but also shine a spotlight on the positive difference that amazing social work practice makes to people’s lives. Whether it’s advancing people’s rights and challenging injustices, to advocating for fairness and promoting wellbeing, the role of social work has never been more important.