There are many social workers on Social Work England’s register who are not in direct practice.
This includes, for example, workforce development leads, senior managers, commissioners and academics. It also includes those who are not currently employed or who are working in roles outside of the social care sector.
Direct practice can be defined as working directly with an individual, family or group – or holding a caseload.
All social workers on the register, including those not in direct practice, must meet the professional standards (including standard 4, CPD) in order to renew their registration each year, and Social Work England have produced some guidance to support social workers who are not in direct practice to meet the CPD requirements as outlined under standard 4.
This guidance highlights a number of key things for non-case holding social workers to consider when thinking about their CPD:
How does your work affect social work practice?
- If your role is connected to the social care sector, think about how your work has an impact on social workers and/or people who draw on care and support.
- For example, are you involved in developing social workers’ practice? Or commissioning social work services? Do you contribute to policies which impact on social work practice?
How do you keep up to date with the profession?
- Accessing Research in Practice resources can be an excellent way of helping you to stay up to date. See Record your CPD and apply to renew registration for details of how you can access and use our resources to help you to meet the CPD requirements.
- For social workers who are not currently practicing, peer reflection is also an important way of staying connected to social work. This could look like talking to another social worker or professional about something you have watched or read that gave you a new insight into your area of practice.
- See Peer reflection and CPD for more information on meeting the peer reflection element of the CPD requirements.
How does your life experience impact on your work?
The below quote from Social Work England provides some guidance for drawing on life experience.
‘You can draw on life experience and consider how this impacts your work, and in turn others around you. For example, if you are currently out of work to care for someone, or due to other personal circumstances like parenthood, this will impact your practice. The perspective you acquire every day through life experience can relate to your practice. You can reflect on things that happen outside of work.’
CPD advice for social workers not in direct practice - Social Work England
Remember: you don’t have to meet all parts of the CPD standard
It can be tricky to meet all eight parts of the CPD standard if you are not in direct practice. As long as you meet some parts of the standards you will meet Social Work England’s requirements, so it is fine to just focus on the parts of the standard which are applicable you currently.
Experience of CPD from a non-practising social worker
The below case study shares a real example of how Hannah Scott, Research and Development Officer at Research in Practice has maintained CPD whilst working in a non-practising role.
When I joined Research in Practice in 2020, I was keen to keep my social work registration despite being in a non-practising role. Whilst I was initially a little worried about how I would be able to do this, in reviewing the Social Work England CPD standard 4, I realised how much I met in my day-to-day work in the role. At Research in Practice we strive to support evidence informed learning of practitioners (4.5), for which my work has included delivering learning sessions, as well as writing and developing resources. This requires keeping up to date myself in research and policy (4.3 and 4.4). I have also worked with people with lived experience to help promote their voices (4.1). These both support the learning of others, as well as my own development and is something many practitioners will be undertaking regularly in workforce development roles, practice educating or roles further away from direct practice.
When I became a parent and was on maternity leave, I often reflected upon how my transition into parenting impacted aspects of my practice or the different perspective it had given me, both positive and negative, about previous practice scenarios (4.8). I have often had similar conversations with other social work peers and parents about these, which have been natural examples for my peer reflection CPD. Even since starting a small amount of independent practice educating under a social work role, I still find that the examples of CPD that most frequently come to mind are from my non-practicing role due to the impact and connection to practice these have.
To support social workers with their registration and renewal, Research in Practice has a dedicated CPD page.
This includes video guidance on saving reflections to the Research in Practice website.
