A statement from the Adults PSW Network Chairs on CPD

Social workers’ frustrations have been raised with some PSWs following the news that Social Work England will not be reviewing samples of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) records uploaded as part of our social work registration in 2024.  

The Chairs of the National Adult PSW Network wanted to respond to this. Whilst we acknowledge the frustrations, we wish to invite social workers to reflect (as that’s what social workers are good at) about the reasoning and necessity to upload evidence of CPD in the first place.

This is an opportunity to evidence our social work CPD. Ultimately, it is for our own professional development. Like many acts undertaken in social work, this year it may not be seen, but it will make a difference, and its impact felt.

We encourage all social workers to let go of any frustrations and, inline with Standards 3 and 4, be accountable and maintain our CPD by sharing our learning with peers.  At the moment, the minimum requirement is two pieces of CPD including one piece of peer reflection. If you still have CPD to upload you could use it as an opportunity to look over training you have done over the year, to reflect on the learning and consider how it has made a difference to your thinking or practice.

Whilst things can feel really tough, it offers a perfect opportunity to reconnect with why we do what we do as social workers.  If you submit both pieces as a peer reflection you will have worked with others to grow together.  We also ask employers to give space for social workers to complete this requirement.

The reason Social Work England are not reviewing the CPD this year is because they plan to review their approach to registration renewal to ensure it ‘offers the right balance between public protection, public confidence in the profession, and efficiency’. They have also pledged to learn more about how social workers used CPD. 

In a statement, Social Work England said that having taken responsibility for regulation five years ago, now was a ‘good time’ to review its CPD requirements. The review will look at how the process provided assurance to the public about the safety and effectiveness of social workers’ practice and how it supported practitioners to evidence that they were meeting the regulator’s professional standards.

In response to this statement from the Adults PSW Network Chairs, Social Work England emphasised that although they will not carry out a detailed review of CPD submissions, they will still closely monitor incoming CPD reflection, ‘therefore it still needs to be completed to ensure successful registration renewal’.

They also confirmed that reviewing their approach will be an opportunity to ‘open up a different conversation about CPD with social workers so that much greater value can be gained from CPD’, allowing for a ‘good conversation about our review and what we as the regulator, and social workers themselves, can do next to ensure CPD is a much more valuable experience than it currently is’.

As Chairs we will be uploading a reflection on our upcoming CPD session with Dez Holmes, and a bit like ‘dancing like nobody is watching’ will be reflecting like nobody is watching.