Saturday 6th September 2025
9:30am to 4:30pm
at the historic
Mechanics Institute, 103 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD
The Social Workers Union (SWU) invites all of our members and social work colleagues to join us for a one-day conference at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester on September 6th. We welcome social workers, NQSWs, social work students and apprentices to join us for this activism themed and solidarity building event.
We are pleased to announce the following keynote speakers:
Vivian Okeze-Tirado is a UK national award-winning social work leader, social justice advocate, practice educator, changemaker, and author.
Vivian will be speaking on “Social Work Solidarity in Action: Harnessing Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Sensitivity to Drive Social Justice to Social Change”.
Dr Neil Thompson is a SWU Ambassador, an award-winning social work author, and visiting professor at the Open University and Wrexham University.
Neil will be speaking on “Why We Should Be Talking about Alienation”.
Tricia Pereira and Dr Godfred Boahen are social workers and Co-Chairs of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES).
Tricia and Godfred will be speaking on “Moving from Allyship to Solidarity – How we address findings from the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard to progress race equity”.
Gawain Little is the current General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), author, former chair of the International Solidarity Committee of the NEU, and currently sits on the Executive Committees of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights.
Gawain will be speaking on “Solidarity in the 21st Century”.
Dr Joe Hanley is a social worker, Lecturer in Social Work at the Open University, author, and researcher whose area of expertise includes social work workforce challenges.
Joe will be speaking on “Give up or stand up? Social work workplace activism in 2025”.
Conference highlights will include:
- A focus on building solidarity with each other and the people that we as social workers support.
- Inspiring speakers from the social work and trade union sectors.
- Celebrate and learn from the successes of community social work groups who are making a difference.
- Networking with colleagues from across the UK.
- Meet the SWU team, chat with our Union Contacts, and hear from Trade Union Officers from the BASW / SWU Advice & Representation team.
- Get involved with UK-wide and national SWU & BASW campaigns.
Book your free place today:
https://basw.co.uk/events/swu-conference-2025-solidarity-work
Important booking notice:
- SWU and BASW members must be logged into their account on the BASW website to book their free place at this conference.
- Non-members can create a free account on the BASW website to book their free place at this conference.
- If you have any issues booking your free place at the SWU Conference 2025 please contact Joanne Marciano at: joanne.marciano@swu-union.org.uk
The Social Workers Union (SWU) and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) announced the “Stronger Social Work, Better Lives” campaign to improve professional working conditions for social workers across the UK at the BASW Conference this summer. SWU and BASW will soon be making an exciting announcement on next steps for this wide-reaching campaign at the upcoming SWU Conference!
Learn more about this campaign here:
https://basw.co.uk/about-basw/campaigning-and-influencing/improving-working-conditions-social-workers
SWU members, join us for the SWU Annual General Meeting
The 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Social Workers Union will be held online on the afternoon of Friday 26th September 2025.
This event is for SWU members only. Entry to this event is FREE for SWU members.
Please be sure to register your place before 12pm noon on Thursday Septermber 25th.
The booking link and more information is available on the SWU AGM webpage: https://swu-union.org.uk/2025/01/swu-annual-general-meeting-2025