I am calling on the UK Government to take urgent action to improve the timeliness of Social Work England's (SWE) fitness to practice procedures.  The Professional Standards Authority determined that during the 2021 - 2022, SWE only met three out of five targets in the fitness to practice area, with the two failings being timeliness. This is not just a statistic; it represents countless social workers lives that are put on hold due to these delays.

The timescales for fitness to practice hearings during this period saw an almost 100% increase, with average timescales rising from 59.9 weeks to an alarming 117.7 weeks. These delays have a significant and detrimental impact on the emotional health and wellbeing of social workers, some of whom are unable to work during this period either due to an inability to secure work or due to ongoing stress caused by these delays.

With SWE currently facing significant backlogs with cases held up between case examiner recommendations and facilitation of hearings, it is highly likely that these delays will see further increases in the next inspection cycle.

This situation cannot continue unaddressed. We need immediate intervention from Government for more efficient handling of fitness-to-practice concerns by SWE and for our regulator to be held to account where they fail to practice what they preach.

Please sign this petition if you believe in fair treatment and timely resolution for our dedicated social workers who deserve nothing less than our full support.