BASW & SWU highlight working conditions campaign at Westminster

“Time to improve working conditions in social work”, MPs told

BASW and SWU this week held an event at the UK Parliament to lobby MPs and Peers for better working conditions for social workers.

“Stronger Social Work, Better Lives” was launched at BASW UK Conference in June 2025. The nationwide campaign is fighting to ensure social workers have the conditions they need to protect and support those who depend on their expertise.

We’re calling for:

Adequate and safe staffing
Sustainable workloads
Proper funding and investment in social work services
Better services through better professional development
Recognition and respect for social work expertise
Improved mental health and wellbeing support for practitioners

Professor Sam Baron & John McGowan with Cat Smith MP

Professor Sam Baron & John McGowan with Ian Lavery MP

Professor Sam Baron speaking to Andy McDonald MP

Professor Sam Baron speaking to Ian Byrne MP

The parliamentary event represented a critical opportunity for BASW and SWU to promote the campaign’s importance to legislators who have the power to effect change.

Thanks to your feedback via surveys carried out by BASW and SWU, we have a strong and persuasive body of evidence outlining why change needs to happen now. The crippling impact that poor working conditions is having on the profession and delivery of services cannot carry on. Indeed, our research reveals that, compared to the UK average, working conditions for social workers are worse than 90-95% of other employees in both the public and private sectors.

Better working conditions are urgently needed to retain social workers, prevent exhaustion and burnout among practitioners, and ensure that the profession is best equipped to support all those who need our help.

Lindsey Huxtable-Dowd from BASW/SWU A&R Team speaking to Cat Smith MP

Lisa Fitzpatrick from BASW/SWU A&R Team speaking to Neil Duncan-Jones MP

Professor Sam Baron & John McGowan with Chris Webb MP

BASW & SWU teams with Lord Alf Dubs

We were pleased to have the chance to amplify this message to a number of politicians, including Ian Byrne MP, Cat Smith MP, Ian Lavery MP, Chris Webb MP, Rachael Maskell MP, Andy McDonald MP, Shokat Adam MP, Neil Duncan-Jordan MP, and Lord Alf Dubs. We look forward to working with you all to progress this campaign in parliament.

The event also served as the first meeting in this parliamentary session of The UK Cross Party Group for Social Work, a forum led by SWU and BASW for parliamentarians to discuss the importance of social work in our society and to champion the role of social workers.

Can you help us get the message out to even more MPs? Please contact your MP to alert them to our campaign and ask them to promote it to UK Ministers. Email our Political Affairs Lead, Kerri Prince on kerri.prince@basw.co.uk for more information.