Social Work England launches new standards for courses

Social Work England has launched new standards to improve education and training for mental health and mental capacity professionals in England. The aim is to ensure that everyone who qualifies from approved mental health professional (AMHP) and best interests assessor (BIA) higher education courses can practise safely and effectively.

The new standards have been launched by the social work regulator as part of its overall objective to protect the public. They aim to give the public confidence that all newly qualified AMHPs and BIAs have had comprehensive initial education and training. This applies to social workers, nurses, chartered psychologists and occupational therapists, who can all train as AMHPs and BIAs.

Social Work England will use the standards to approve new courses and reapprove existing courses from summer 2025. It is working closely with education and training providers to introduce the standards and has published detailed guidance.

The standards are the result of 2 public consultations and extensive engagement with the education, mental health, social work and social care sectors, including input from the previous government.

The AMHP standards will replace those previously put in place by the Health and Care Professions Council, against which AMHP courses are currently regulated by Social Work England.* The BIA standards have been newly developed following a pause in national policy plans to replace the role.

Sarah Blackmore, executive director of professional practice and external engagement at Social Work England, said:

“AMHPs and BIAs carry out an invaluable role for people facing mental health challenges at some of the most vulnerable times in their lives and the organisations responsible for their care. The public must feel confident that they are all trained to deliver a consistently high standard of service, decision-making and compassion. This is why future professionals will only be able to practise if they hold a qualification from one of our approved education and training courses.

“I would like to thank everyone who fed into our consultations on these important new standards. We continue to work closely with other health and social care regulators and the different professional sectors to ensure we can best meet the needs of the public. We’re confident that the new standards are strongly aligned with the principles of the Mental Health Act.”

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