Despite strong opposition from the social work community, the regulator will raise its annual renewal fee for social workers in England. Initial registration, restoration, and scrutiny fees will also increase.
Social workers in England renewing their registration between 1st September and 30th November 2025 will be required to pay a £120 registration renewal fee. All Social Work England (SWE) fees will then, in addition, increase annually by 1.85% until 2029.
From 1st December 2025, applicants will be required to pay:
- £120 for initial registration (an increase of 33.3% from £90)
- £180 to restore registration (an increase of 33% from £135)
- £670 scrutiny fees for overseas applicants (an increase of 35% from £495)
Social workers extremely opposed to fee increases
Earlier this year SWE ran a 12-week consultation on proposals to change its fees. The rationale given for these changes – all of them increases – was that its fees have not increased in 10 years and the regulator needs to ensure it is appropriately financed between grant in aid from the taxpayer and the fees it charges social workers.
Social workers, organisations including SWU and BASW England, stakeholders, and the public gave their time and energy to engage with this consultation which had almost 8,000 responses. An overwhelming majority of responses were in opposition to the proposed changes:
- 96% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the increase of the renewal fee,
- 90% disagreed or strongly disagreed with an increase to the initial registration fee, and
- 85% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the initial increase to both the restoration and scrutiny fees.
SWU collected feedback for this consultation through a joint membership survey with BASW England and additional direct consultations with SWU members. SWU General Secretary John McGowan met with SWE Chief Executive Colum Conway to personally deliver this feedback.
Overall, SWU and BASW England members felt that a 33% fee increase with additional annual 1.85% is unreasonable and that the fee increases could negatively impact people with protected characteristics. Our members also feel there is lack of value for money with current fees and that the proposed fee increases are unjustifiable without greater transparency over current spending and concrete plans to improve performance, structure, and function as a regulator.
Regulator increases fees and dismisses the feedback it invited
By now many of us have read SWE’s response to the consultation feedback. SWU shares the frustration felt by BASW England and those across the sector not only around the sharp increase in fees but the process by which this decision has been made. The decision to implement the full fee rise – which was made without modification or meaningful concession despite the scale of concern expressed from across the social work sector – was very dismissive in tone and raises some questions.
SWE stated, “We have listened to, and carefully considered, all the feedback received during the consultation, and maintain that it is still appropriate to proceed with the proposals as they were set out in the consultation.”
Was there anything social workers could have said to change this decision?
SWE justified its dismissal of the consultation responses by saying, “While acknowledging that we had received just over 8,000 responses, the board noted that this was less than 8% of the register who had responded.”
Was there a minimum number of responses that the regulator required to influence this decision?
SWE’s own equality impact assessment found that social workers from some protected characteristic groups could be negatively impacted by the increased fees. However, SWE has stated that this issue is too expensive to address, and the onus is on individual social workers to find support where they can through claiming tax relief on professional fees, paying in instalments, or seeing if their employer will reimburse these fees.
Is the regulator going to do anything to address the negative impacts predicted by its equality assessment?
Working in partnership – a core principle of government – requires open communication, collaboration, establishing clear goals, and building trust.
SWU Executive Member Nana Yabbey-Hagan, who is leading on the SWU campaign against an increase stated that:
“I am very disappointed that Social Work England have decided to increase the fees which is an understatement. What has annoyed me the most is that within the email they had sent, they expressed that they had considered all the feedback over the 12 weeks. With all due respect, Social Work England have not considered anything and completely ignored the overwhelming response from Social Workers across the country who said to not increase the fees. Social Work England’s decision highlights why so many Social Workers across the country have become disenfranchised and disillusioned with the system. This increase is coming in a time of a cost-of-living crisis not to mention the impact on those who have just qualified. The voice of Social Workers has become lost; however I am not prepared to sit back and will be challenging Social Work England and the Government to review this decision.”
Social workers may be interested in the November 2024 episode of the Talk to SWU workplace issues webinar series that focuses on the topic of social work regulators and fitness to practice. In this session a panel of Advice & Representation Trade Union Officers discuss differences between the regulators in the UK, consider the timeline of a fitness to practices case from referral through to a conclusion, and answer live questions. You can view this and all past Talk to SWU sessions on the SWU YouTube channel and on the SWU website: https://swu-union.org.uk/events/talk-to-swu