BASW Independents Local Networks provide an excellent opportunity to build professional links with other self-employed social workers in your area. These meetings are currently virtual and held on MS Teams.
This group meets quarterly on the 3rd Thursday of the month.
This online lunch time session will provide an opportunity for members to learn more about BASW UK activities, your membership benefits, advice and representation and how you can access CPD, be involved in our campaigns, consultations, networks and special interest groups.
Your Professional Association connects you with other social workers working in diverse settings across different nations at different stages of career pathways.
Human rights and social justice are core social work values and together we can promote the voice of social work and the BASW Code of Ethics.
Delivered by BASW’s accredited training partner DCC-i via MS Teams.
Since the implementation of the Care Act 2014, working with adults who may be at risk of harm and undertaking safeguarding adults’ enquiries has seen a shift in emphasis from process to personalised responses.
Entry to this online event is FREE for SWU members and voting facilities will be provided during the meeting.
When booking your free place: at the Payment Method section please select "Credit Card" and you will be given the option to sign up to the event for free. If you need support registering for this event please contact joanne.marciano@swu-union.org.uk.
Registration deadline: SWU members must register by 12pm (noon) on Thursday September 25th to attend this AGM.
Research findings and practice experience provide compelling evidence that animal abuse in the context of domestic abuse is a tactic of coercive control and an act of animal cruelty (Arkow, 2014; Barrett et al, 2017; DeGue et al, 2009; Fitzgerald et al, 2019; Newberry, 2017; Richards, 2009, Wakeham, 2025). Although the link between domestic abuse and animal abuse is uncontested, it is an issue that is often not translated into practice.
Supported by BASW, the Neurodivergent Social Workers Special Interest Group (NSW SIG) is a SIG for neurodivergent social workers, and professionals within social care.
If you are a social worker who is neurodivergent, come and join us, let’s be the change and make our workplace neuro-inclusive! This vibrant, active SIG meets online, usually on MS Teams, on the last Tuesday of every month, 7pm till 8.30pm.
This session will be delivered by Child Sexual Abuse survivor and founder of The Flying Child, Sophie Olson, and consultant children’s social worker Sarah Pritchard as part of The Flying Child 'Side By Side CSA' training. They will use the powerful tool of storytelling to illustrate the child’s experience leading into the survivor’s journey, and the social harms faced.
The idea for this group has organically grown from the BASW Independent Social Worker online FaceBook group, where people have been reaching out within the forum to share information, seek advice and guidance. Showing the need for a platform to discuss the positives and the issues impacting the fostering world. The responses have been very heartfelt and demonstrate the necessity of having a community support group, with a common theme of fostering assessments and the evolution of this work.
The panel is jointly run by the Scottish Association of Social Work, the Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser, and Social Work Scotland. The panel was created to bring together experienced frontline workers, newly qualified workers, students and policy makers in Government to address the issues affecting social work today. It is an opportunity to influence those policy makers and the future of social work with your experience and knowledge.
This Social Work Policy Panel will focus on: Overhauling Eligibility Criteria
If you are a social worker or social work leader, currently working within an NHS Trust or other health organisation and looking for opportunities to connect with other social workers, share experiences and knowledge then this session is for you.
This course equips professionals with the skills to see beneath the surface, critically analyse a child's journey, and understand the deep and lasting impact of trauma. It also explores the experiences of those caring for children -acknowledging the challenges faced by parents and carers supporting a child with a trauma history. Participants will be encouraged to critically reflect on existing pathways and consider new, compassionate approaches that scaffold trauma-responsive, recovery-focused practices—benefiting the whole family and the world of the child.
At the BASW UK conference in June 2025 an international team of researchers from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Australia delivered BASW’s Kay McDougall Prize Lecture, presenting their award winning article from BJSW: ‘If we know what works, why aren’t we doing it?’ https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/54/6/2808/7685501
In this session, two members of the researhc team will reprise their conference presentation for the benefit of all BASW members.
Many social workers practicing in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VSCE) sector do not work alongside other social workers and may not have an opportunity to reflect on their practice with other Social Workers using social work frameworks.
The purpose of this Support Forum is to have a safe, positive, solution focussed and confidential space for social workers employed in the VSCE sector to meet their peers, provide support to each other and to discuss and explore issues that arise.
Section 117 is an enforceable freestanding duty placed on both local social services authorities and NHS commissioners to provide non-chargeable aftercare services to eligible people as defined in the Mental Health Act legislation. This session will explore the challenges and examples of good practice in the provision of Section 117 aftercare.
Neurodivergent Student, NQ and ASYE social workers A sub-group of the NSW SIG
A safe community space for neurodivergent (ND) student social workers, ASYE and newly qualified social workers (NQSW) in the UK.
Please note that this is a safe space for peer support only, and not for CPD purposes. If you are unsure whether you may join this community, please email Helen Randle on policyadmin@basw.co.uk in the first instance. Many thanks.