Social work lecturers in the UK, you are invited to talk with SWU about your experiences and present difficulties.
Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday January 20th, 2026 from 4:15-5pm.
The confidential feedback you give in this webinar will be used to support a campaign around SWU’s Annual General Meeting 2025 “Motion 5: Solidarity with Social Work Academics and University-Based Programmes”. You can read the full text of this motion below.
Book your free place here: https://basw.co.uk/events/solidarity-social-work-academics-and-university-based-programmes
Motion 5: Solidarity with Social Work Academics and University-Based Programmes
Universities face significant financial pressures, resulting in widespread cuts to academic staff and threats to the continuation of social work programmes.
The sector is facing a profound wave of job cuts, with at least 5,000 jobs already lost, and potentially thousands more, possibly up to 20,000 impacted by broader cost-saving measures.
Current estimates likely understate the full impact, given the prevalence of hiring freezes, non-renewals, voluntary exits, and restructuring.
University-based social work programs serve as the essential pipeline for recruiting into the profession. They function not only as centers of academic and practical learning but also as the foundation for cultivating the next generation of practitioners who are grounded in ethics, critical reflection, and research-informed practice. Without well-funded university programs, the profession faces a shrinking workforce during a period of severe recruitment and retention challenges. Reductions in courses and staff directly threaten the supply of qualified social workers, jeopardizing the long-term stability of the profession and the ability of public services to address social needs.
Social work lecturers also play a vital role in diversifying the profession. Through outreach efforts, they actively recruit and support students from underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds, including care leavers, those with caring responsibilities, disabled students, and individuals from racialized and minoritized communities. This work not only promotes social justice and equality within the profession but also helps ensure that the workforce mirrors the diverse communities it serves.
However, the current climate of cuts and restructuring is eroding these gains. The removal of essential support roles shifts more responsibility onto already overburdened lecturers. This increases workloads, reduces the ability for personalized student support, and risks undoing progress on broadening access.
Without the ongoing commitment of social work academics and supporting infrastructure, the profession risks becoming less diverse, less inclusive, and less representative of the communities it serves. Protecting academic and support staff is therefore not only about defending jobs but also about safeguarding the values and future of social work.
This union believes:
Ensuring students remain supported, particularly when bursaries fall short amid rising cost of living, is essential to prevent attrition and protect course viability.
Defending the working conditions of social work lecturers is key to ensuring the sustainability of university-based social work education and, by extension, the profession as a whole.
HEI funding crises are compromising not just university stability but the entire academic foundation and credibility of the social work profession.
This Motion resolves:
– To work jointly with social work academics and their unions on campaigns, statements, and industrial action to defend jobs, programmes, and fair pay.
– To press universities and governments to safeguard social work education through adequate funding, stable staffing, and strategic planning.
– To amplify the demand for an urgent review of student funding, ensuring that bursaries are sufficient to prevent students from being forced out by poverty.
– To highlight the broader implications: job cuts and course closures today jeopardise tomorrow’s workforce, ethics, and professional standards.
-To sustain campaigns that connect academic and frontline struggles over pay, workloads, recruitment, retention, and that foster solidarity across the profession.