Practitioners have rejected Social Work England’s proposed 33% rise in registration fees, with most saying that the regulator should focus on improving “value for money” instead, in response to a Community Care poll.
The plan, currently subject to a 12-week consultation, would mean fees for joining the register, and for annual renewal, would rise from £90 to £120 from 1 September 2025, before rising by a further 1.85% per year up to 2028-29.
The policy is designed to rebalance the regulator’s funding from taxpayers, who have borne a rising share of its funding since 2020, to social workers, whose registration fees have been frozen since 2015.
'Improve value for money instead'
However, a Community Care poll with almost 2,000 votes, saw social workers objecting to the regulator’s move.
Only 6% called the rise a “good idea”, in the context of the regulator’s struggles to resource fitness to practise cases.
‘A slap in the face for social workers’
The comments under the related article painted a picture of equally strong opposition, with many readers highlighting the lack of meaningful pay rises for social workers in recent years.“This is really unfair, considering we haven’t had a pay rise in a long time,” said one practitioner.
“The work continues to get harder and more complex, including increased caseloads [and] less management support. Increasing the registration fee from £90 to £120 per year is just another slap in the face for social workers, who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Joy called the move ‘unfair’, adding: “As a children’s social worker, my wage is small [and has not increased]. Increasing the fee is a big leap.”
'It just cannot continue as it is'
Another social worker, Louise, believed the regulator’s aim to save taxpayers money would have been better served by improving working conditions for practitioners.“The pressures of the job are destroying so many social workers and forcing them to quit or work in survival mode," she said. "This [puts] pressure on other resources and the very people social workers [support] face the brunt of it all. This costs taxpayers even more!
“I would gladly pay the extra fees if Social Work England started to look at why so many social workers are on their knees. Instead of looking at their fitness/capacity to do the job, do something about what is stopping them and making them so disheartened! It just cannot continue as it is!”
‘Tokenistic’ consultation on proposal
A few readers criticised Social Work England's consultation as “tokenistic”, with Christine Griffith saying the decision “has clearly already been made”.She was also critical of the regulator for "excessive" delays to fitness to practise hearings and for its decision not to review a sample of practitioners' continuing professional development submissions following last year's registration renewal period.
“Each November, we are pressured to finish our continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, yet this year, they weren’t even reviewed!”
Jo M, who has completed Social Work England’s survey on its proposals, suggested CPD requirements should have been included in the consultation.
“I am really angry at this proposal. I work part-time due to caring responsibilities and would like a similar pay rise as pay awards always fall below the cost of living. I would like to know what I’m paying for and perhaps CPD requirements could have been included in the consultation.”
‘Social workers need to take action’
Others were doubtful whether practitioners would take action to oppose the fee increase.“There is one thing that social workers can do, but won’t do - get organised across the country and mass refuse to pay the increase," said Jack. "Employers would get involved as they can’t suddenly recruit hundreds of agency workers."
He added: “I spent over a year on strike...and suffered enormous financial and psychological stress. We believed in the justness of our actions and, though [...] previously good relationships were broken, we kept our jobs and nobody was given a negative reference if they chose to leave.”
Crispy added: "Social work enjoys being oppressed. It’s part of our martyr identity. Real-term pay cuts year on year but take one day for industrial action? Absolutely not, no thanks!”
Petition against rise
On the day of the announcement, some social workers launched an online petition calling for the regulator to rescind its proposal, which has received over 2,400 signatures.While acknowledging the rising costs of fitness to practise cases, the petition organisers urged the regulator to address the "root causes" of these, such as "excessive caseloads, workplace stress, and inadequate support", rather than "placing the financial burden on social workers".
You can respond to Social Work England's consultation survey until 13 May 2025.
