Social Work England will increase fees

Social Work England has confirmed an increase in registration-related fees for social workers and applicants starting from the 2025–26 registration year. The announcement follows a 12-week public consultation during which stakeholders provided feedback on the proposed changes. The regulator has stated that it carefully considered this input before deciding to proceed with the fee adjustments.

Under the new fee structure, social workers renewing their registration from 1 September 2025 will pay £120, an increase from the current £90. Initial registration, restoration, and scrutiny fees will also rise as of 1 December 2025, with annual adjustments of 1.85% planned until 2029. Social workers eligible for tax relief may be able to claim back up to 20% of these fees, potentially reducing the renewal cost to £96 for the upcoming period.

Social Work England has attributed the decision to the need for a more sustainable financial model. While the regulator’s grant-in-aid funding has increased annually since its establishment, registration fees have remained unchanged for over a decade. The revised fees are intended to support the organisation’s operational costs and reinforce its ability to improve core regulatory functions, including progression and timeliness in fitness to practise processes.

Further details, including a full breakdown of the new fee structure and a summary of consultation feedback, are available in the regulator’s published response. Social Work England will be notifying all registered social workers directly about the changes in due course.

Colum Conway, Chief Executive of Social Work England, said:

“Over the past few months we have taken time to consider all the feedback we received through the public consultation.

We understand many people will not agree with the decision to increase our fees, but we feel this necessary to help us continue to meet our overarching objective of protecting the public.

This will ensure we can deliver all of our regulatory objectives and goals and protect the public. This includes helping us to further improve case progression and timeliness in the fitness to practise process.”

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