Social work bursary row intensifies as BASW calls on Hunt to end delay

Social work leaders have called on Jeremy Hunt to end the government’s delay in allocating social work bursaries for this year.

In a letter to the health secretary, the British Association of Social Workers warned ongoing uncertainty on bursary funding was causing students to consider withdrawing from, or deferring their places on, social work courses due to start in September.

Students have already voiced their anger and anxieties over the delay and academics have made direct appeals to the chief social workers to resolve the situation.

BASW, which represents more than 20,000 social workers across the UK, told Hunt the delay “does nothing to reassure social work students or academics that they are valued by government” and needed to be addressed urgently.

Ruth Allen, BASW’s chief executive, wrote: “We are hearing anecdotally from both students and academics that this delay in allocating bursary funding is reducing the number of students able to take up their place on mainstream university courses.”

Fast-track routes

While ministers have repeatedly delayed announcing bursary funding for mainstream social work programmes this year, they have committed to investing an extra £100m in fast-track social work schemes by 2020. The fast-track routes target graduates, with applicants requiring a minimum 2:1 first degree to apply.

Allen said mainstream university routes remained “the backbone of training provision” and the government’s failure to provide funding certainty for them risked freezing non-graduates out of social work and damaging workforce planning.

“Social work education should be accessible to everybody and bursaries help to encourage people who may not otherwise have considered university to qualify as a social work. Given the diversity of the people the next generation of social workers will serve, ensuring a diverse social work workforce is crucial.

“Not everyone enters university at 18: some students will be giving up full-time jobs in order to take up a place on a social work course. Social workers train via a variety of routes and it is a really positive for the profession that it attracts a variety of ages and backgrounds who are committed to becoming social workers.

“It is good practice for government to harness and support this commitment by being clear from the outset on the level of financial support available. It is important to retain diversity in training provision and universities should not be disadvantaged in favour of other forms of training provision.”

Disrespect

Ray Jones, professor of social work at Kingston university, said the delay to bursary funding showed a “total disrespect” by government for social work students and mainstream programmes.

“It is outrageous that with only weeks to go before early September, when many masters programmes start, that students and courses are left stranded and with it all having to be sorted and rescued during August with the unavailability of prospective students and course staff because of holidays.”

The Department of Health told students and universities they would receive bursary information for this year in June but no details have been announced. Last Monday, the DH said social work bursaries would be provided for the next academic year and details would be “published shortly”. It said sign-off on allocations had been delayed because of ministerial changes.

A consultation on the longer-term future of the social work bursary will be launched later this year with ministers considering scrapping the financial support entirely.