Minister says social work profession is vital

The reputation and status of the social work profession is in the process of being transformed in the same way as those of the teaching profession, a minister has said.

Education minister Lord Adonis said the profession was “every bit as vital as teaching” and that his department regarded its transformation as “an equal priority”. Adonis was speaking in a House of Lords debate this month, initiated by Earl Listowel, on safeguarding children. Listowel suggested the government needed a “tsar” to tackle the recruiting and retaining of social workers.