Our ambitions

Join us so that together we can:

• Develop a strong profession, confident about the unique contributions it makes to the individuals, families and communities it serves, with a clear sense of its values, ethics and purpose.
• Be a powerful voice for the social work profession, when communicating with the public, policy makers, employers and the media.
• Improve public understanding of, and support for social work, by developing a positive and transparent relationship with the media and representing the profession in public debates.
• Influence the development of national policies that impact on social work, social workers, carers and the people who use social work services, acting as an advocate for the profession.
• Build relationships and develop policies with other professional bodies regarding issues of common interest (e.g. occupational therapists, nurses, probation officers).
• Build relationships and develop policies with the academic community, including researchers, lecturers and teachers.
• Build relationships with user and carer led organisations, so that we involve service users and carers in our work.
• Represent the social work profession in discussions with policy makers in government, the public, the media and other professions.
• Establish links with similar organisations overseas, learning from and sharing good practice in supporting social work. 

Most other professions have a regulator (currently in England the GSCC and passing to the HPC in summer 2012), a College to uphold standards and an association and/or trade union(s) to provide advice and representation for the profession.  Social work in England has developed rather differently, with the GSCC being both the regulator and holding some professionals standards. As a Government body the GSCC has been hugely influenced by the state. With the move to a separate regulator and College, the independence of professional standards from Government intervention is assured enabling the profession itself to develop and enforce its own standards.

Now is the time for the profession to take control of its own destiny and by so doing, improve the lives of the people it exists to serve. We are The College of Social Work and we hold the new professional standards for England.. Join us.