In November 2025, Social Work England published a report detailing its findings from five years regulating the social work education sector.
The study, Preparing for practice: social work education in England, drew on its inspections of 257 courses from September 2021 to March 2025 and its annual monitoring process, for which it collects information from providers regarding their compliance with the regulator's education and training standards.
Here's what it found.
Apprenticeships have driven a rise in course numbers
The number of approved social work qualifying courses was relatively stable from 2021-23, but grew by a fifth from 2023 (297) to 2025 (355), despite the number of providers falling from 83 to 75 over this time.
There were increases in both the numbers of undergraduate courses (from 168 to 206) and postgraduate programmes (from 129 to 149) over that time.
However, despite "traditional" (ie university-based) courses continuing to make up the majority of programmes (58.3%), Social Work England said the growth in numbers over the past two years had been driven by apprenticeships.
As of August 2025, 44 undergraduate and 11 postgraduate apprenticeships were on its approved course list, making up 15.5% of the total.
Social Work England said that, anecdotally, the attractiveness of apprenticeships was likely based on two factors:
- The fact that apprentices could continue to earn a salary and have their fees paid - generally via their employer's apprenticeship levy - while studying.
- The retention benefits for employers of training existing social care staff, often with years of relevant experience, as social workers.
Despite the rise in course numbers, Social Work England said it believed 26 were likely to close in future because they were old versions of courses that higher education institutions were running in parallel to new ones.
Student numbers may have fallen but the data is unclear
The growth in the number of apprenticeship courses was reflected in data on course enrolments provided to Social Work England by providers in their annual monitoring returns.
This showed that the number of students enrolled on undergraduate apprenticeships increased by 7.7% (73 apprentices) between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
However, over the same period, the reported number of enrolments onto all courses fell by 3.1%, from 6,123 to 5,834, driven by reductions of 8.9% for traditional undergraduate courses (225 students) and 8.7% (127) for traditional postgraduate programmes.
The regulator also found that there was a 5.3% fall in the number of students who were on the final year of their courses in 2023-24 (5,702) compared with 2022-23 (6,122).
Social Work England stressed that its data in this area was "not currently accurate enough to reliably identify trends in enrolments across England".
This was because providers were not required to provide this information through annual monitoring and the data was likely to be complicated by the fact that some courses ran two intakes of students, in September and January.
Also, Social Work England's data cannot be cross-referenced against Skills for Care's hitherto annual analysis of data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on social work enrolments and graduations.
This was last published in April 2023, with subsequent publications - covering 2022-23 and 2023-24 - delayed due to holdups in the publication of HESA data.
Despite these caveats, Social Work England said it was "mindful of the potential decrease in enrolments onto traditional undergraduate and postgraduate courses, which we will continue to monitor closely".
Social work courses face financial pressures
The regulator said that it was aware that education providers were under financial pressure due to declining income and rising costs, with the Office for Students reporting that 43% of institutions were forecasting a deficit for 2024-25.
Also, social work programmes were costly to run relative to other courses, due to the high staff-to-student ratios required to provide
effective supervision, co-ordinate practice learning and deliver sufficient pastoral support, Social Work England added.
Another challenge for providers was navigating the complex system of government funding for social work education.
Under this, the Department for Education (DfE) funds the Step Up to Social Work and Frontline's Approach Social Work scheme and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) finances bursaries and the education support grant (ESG) - to resource practice learning - for traditional university courses. Apprenticeships are financed through the apprenticeship levy, which now falls under the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
As a result, said Social Work England, "funding comes from multiple sources depending on the social work route resulting in different fees and financial support for student social workers as well as for aspects of course delivery such as practice based learning".
One challenge it noted was that apprenticeship courses could not access the ESG, which the regulator heard had led to tensions between course providers and employers as to who should resource practice education.
A further challenge was the ending, in 2024, of government funding for teaching partnerships, which bring together employers and course providers. Though many partnerships are seeking to continue their work, the regulator said this could be "challenging at a time when both higher education and local authority budgets are strained".
Almost all social work courses passed their inspections
Of 257 courses inspected up to March 2025, 255 were approved, with just two having their approval to provide social work training removed.
Of the remainder, 48 were approved unconditionally and 207 conditionally, with a total of 664 conditions applied across the sector, an average of just over three per course.
Conditions are applied where a provider is not meeting any of the regulator's 36 education and training standards, with Social Work England giving the organisation a set timeframe in which to comply.
Below we have summarised Social Work England's findings against each of the main standards areas.
Admissions: the need to provide clear information
In relation to admissions, the standard that received the most conditions was 1.6, which concerns ensuring the process gives applicants the information they require to make an informed choice about whether to take up an offer of a place on a course.
Over a quarter of courses (28.4%) were given a condition for this. Social Work England said this commonly related to courses not having accurate and up-to-date information on their websites.
This was more challenging for courses delivered in partnership with other organisations, where applicants receive information from different sources at different times during the admissions process. For example, with Step Up to Social Work, the Department for Education delivers the first part of the admissions process, and with apprenticeships, employers often provide information about courses.
Social Work England said it had spoken to applicants for these courses who did not know where they would be studying, that their programme would involve travel to a university campus or that they would be studying for a degree-level qualification.
The learning environment: practice educators and placements
Under the learning environment section - and also more generally - the standard that received the most conditions (covering 37.7% of courses) was 2.6. Under this, providers must ensure that practice educators are on the register and that they have the relevant and current knowledge, skills and experience to support safe and effective learning.
These conditions almost always related to how and where the course retained information about practice educators, with this data often maintained by partners, such as employers, not the education provider itself.
Social Work England added that records often focused on practice educators' registration status, with some higher education institutions needing to provide more information about these practitioners' level of experience and training.
Another learning environment standard that attracted several conditions - for 25.6% of courses - was 2.1: ensuring that students spend at least 200 days in practice learning, including up to 30 skills days (where students develop their practice skills).
Social Work England said that some providers needed to show more evidence of how placements were sourced and arranged with employers, that robust quality assurance processes were in place and that there was sufficient contrast between students' placements.
In relation to skills days, the regulator said a common issue was how providers monitored attendance and counted days, while provision for students and apprentices who had missed days was sometimes insufficient.
Course governance, management and quality
Under this section, just over a quarter of courses (26.4%) received conditions for standard 3.5: ensuring there are regular and effective course monitoring, evaluation and improvement systems, involving employers, people with lived experience of social work and students.
These typically related to how courses engaged stakeholders in monitoring and quality assuring programmes. Social Work England said providers needed to demonstrate "meaningful engagement" with employers, people with lived experience and students, and use this to drive course quality.
Curriculum and assessment
There was a similar theme underlying the curriculum and assessment standard that attracted the most conditions, covering 23.3% of courses. Standard 4.2 requires courses to ensure that the views of employers, practitioners and people with lived experience of
social work are incorporated into curriculum design, development and review.
Social Work England said that sometimes courses needed to involve people with lived experience in curriculum development at a more strategic level, while conditions were also applied where arrangements for engaging stakeholders were irregular.
Also, 21% of courses received conditions for standard 4.1, under which providers must ensure course content, structure and delivery are in line with relevant guidance and frameworks and are designed to enable students to demonstrate they have the knowledge and skills to meet the regulator's professional standards.
In a link to standard 2.1, conditions were commonly applied due to how courses monitored attendance at skills days. More broadly, they related to how programmes mapped learning outcomes from what students were taught to Social Work England's professional standards.
The regulator stressed that during the time of the inspections, it did not provide detailed guidance or direction around the curriculum courses should deliver.
That had been set to change with the introduction of Social Work England's knowledge, skills and behaviours statements, which comprise 82 expectations of social work graduates on joining the profession.
This was due to form part of its regulation of social work courses through new 'readiness for professional practice guidance', which was slated for publication in March this year. However, this is now on hold (see below).
Supporting students
In relation to supporting students, the least complied with standard was 5.5, under which courses must provide information to students about their curriculum, practice placements, assessments and transition to being a registered social worker, including in relation to continuing professional development (CPD) requirements. A fifth (19.8%) of courses had conditions applied against this standard.
Social Work England said these typically related to the clarity and sufficiency of detail in the course handbook. It said some providers needed to give students more information on how their programme would enable them to register, on CPD and in relation to the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) and other post-qualifying opportunities and requirements.
The future regulation of social work education
Social Work England said it would use the learning from the report to "improve the consistency and quality of courses" and, through that, graduates' readiness for practice.
It had planned to carry out a review of its education and training standards and publish readiness for professional practice guidance, setting out what graduates should know and be able to do on joining the profession.
However, this work is now on hold pending the outcome of the Independent Review of Social Work Regulation, which is assessing Social Work England's performance of its statutory remit, including to regulate education and training.
The review, led by former Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel chair Annie Hudson, is due to publish report in spring 2026.
