Exploring the Context of Fitness to Practise Concerns About Social Workers in England: Explanations Beyond Individuals

ABSTRACT

There is a disproportionate number of complaints about social workers in England to the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) as compared with the other health care professionals regulated by HCPC. This paper discusses findings from interviews and focus groups that formed part of a mixed methods study that aimed to find out the reasons for complaints and the strategies that may reduce complaints. Four themes were identified: social work as an evolving profession; social work involves challenging practice; social work takes place in a pressurised environment; and public perceptions and expectations of social work are often negative and unrealistic. Findings highlight explanations that focus on organisational culture and public responses to social workers’ control functions. We argue that, at a time of change for the profession, there is a need for public education regarding the role and function of social workers and for regulators to have more proactive engagement with registrants and employers.

KEYWORDS:

• Social workers
• complaints
• regulation
• ethics
• organisational culture
• leadership integrity

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to project participants and Advisory Group members for generously sharing their insights with us. The project was funded by the Health and Care Professions Council.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ann Gallagher, Professor of Ethics and Care, International Care Ethics Observatory, School of Health Sciences, University of Surrey. https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/ann-gallagher.

Sarah Banks, Professor, Sociology Department, Durham University. https://www.dur.ac.uk/sociology/staff/profile/?id=747.

Robert Jago, Deputy Head of School, School of Law, Royal Holloway, University of London. https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/robert-jago(2015ab72-46ae-4bdf-818b-6841e85f09a5).html.

Magdalena Zasada, Research Fellow, University of Surrey. https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/magdalena-zasada.

Zubin Austin, Professor, School of Public Health, University of Toronto. http://ihpme.utoronto.ca/faculty/zubin-austin/.

Anna van der Gaag, Principal Investigator and Visiting Professor, University of Surrey. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-van-der-gaag-7212378/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Health & Care Professions Council.