Up to 30,000 children and adults could be left vulnerable this winter after a ‘technical glitch’ means 1,000 social workers are out of a job.
Each year, every social worker in England must re-register for the profession online by paying a £90 fee, £135 to apply for restoration to the register and meet the CPD requirements – a reflective piece on what they have learnt.
The social workers impacted by the ‘glitch’ have now been barred from practice due to ‘not pressing the correct button’ upon re-registering.
The regulator says these people do not have the right to repeal the rejection under regulation 19 (2) of the social work regulations 2018 and must pay to re-register once again.
Kathryn Wells, who works in child protection in Coventry and filled out the application process on November 30 said: ‘It was a complete shock when Social Work England said I had to pay again and re-register.
‘I’m fully qualified, have a masters degree and have been working in social care since 2018.
‘To be told I’m out of a job temporarily for pressing the wrong button is an insult not only to me but to the 1,000 other social workers out there.’
Social Work England says the majority of workers removed from the register completed the re-registration process on the last day – November 30 – which may have led them to make errors.
But social workers who spoke to Metro.co.uk say this insinuation is an ‘insult’ to the profession, with those impacted not likely to be reinstated until early 2023.
Impacted workers said they had submitted their CPD, paid their fee and then received acknowledgement from Social Work England they had completed these steps, without specifying they had to complete a final part of the application form.
While only 1% of the workforce are affected, this will leave social workers who managed to re-register with a greater caseload than their average 30 – leaving many without suitable care this Christmas and winter.
Kathryn said this will have a major impact on social workers who are already overworked and on vulnerable people who rely on their service.
‘Social workers not impacted will have extra caseloads working with people and children whose circumstances they are not familiar with, things will be missed,’ she said.
‘This couldn’t have come at a worse time for the social workers impacted.
‘With the cost of living crisis and Christmas round the corner we are all going to struggle.
‘I feel like Social Work England should put their hands up, take the blame, refund us and listen – but I don’t think this will happen.’
Another social worker, Rachel King, from Portsmouth, completed her registration at the end of October.
She was at a funeral on November 30 when she found out her re-registration had not been successful.
She’s now in a position where she’s been kept on, but forced to take a pay cut until she re-registers as a social worker.
‘I can’t do duty shifts or child protection assessments or visits simply because my re-registration was not successful,’ she said.
‘It is insulting, irresponsible and we should be fully refunded.
‘I’m a single mum, with three children, two of whom are autistic, it just adds to the stress of a job which can already be emotionally draining.
‘I’m shocked Social Work England have implied it was us social workers who are responsible for rushing the process. 1,000 of us can’t have all made the same mistake.
‘The problem lies with their online system, it is littered with errors and the same thing happened last year.’
Like Kathryn, Rachel believes Social Work England should address the issue, adding: ‘I appreciate they are a new regulator who have been operating for only three years but I even had trouble accessing the system on a new smartphone.
‘The process is too punitive and if mistakes have been made re-registering they should allow us a few extra days to amend this, not strike us off the register.
‘They should uphold the values of care and trust but they’ve failed to do this.
‘I’ve always stood up to injustice and thought to myself it’s about time I stood up to the injustice I’ve faced in this instance.’
In response to the claims, Social Work England’s executive director of regulation, Philip Hallam, said the registration process ran ‘smoothly’ like previous years.
The regulator say 3,740 social workers did not complete all three steps to renew and were removed from the register – which according to them is consistent with previous years.
But figures from the regulator reveal 1,017 social workers had completed the CPD process and payment had been taken, but they were still barred from practice.
‘The three-month renewal window is designed to give people ample time to complete the process and contact us with any questions well before the deadline,’ he said.
‘We can see that a small group of people unintentionally failed to renew and the majority of these were people completing their application on the last day, which may have led to them not completing all of the steps properly.
‘We provided social workers with extensive information on how to complete the three-step process (as set out in our legislation), which was the same as the previous two years. Our website includes a detailed, step by step guide to the renewal form, along with a video walkthrough.
‘We sent social workers several emails and a letter to remind them to apply, including targeted emails at various times to social workers who had failed to complete all steps of the process.
‘This was supported by an extensive comms campaign, including proactive contact with employers and sessions with our regional engagement leads.
‘On the final day of the renewal period, we sent emails to anyone who had not completed all three steps.
‘We appreciate that this is a stressful situation and are assessing applications for restoration as quickly as possible. We advise people who unintentionally failed to renew to notify their employer and ensure that they do not practice as a social worker if they do not hold registration.’
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