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Congratulations to Social Work England, winner of January’s GCS Campaign of the Month competition for their ‘Register, renew and record’ campaign. 

In December 2019, Social Work England became the new regulator for social workers. Their campaign aimed to inform social workers of new requirements, including activating an online account, renewing registration, and uploading their professional development (CPD). As a young organisation with an audience of approximately 100,000 social workers to engage, this wasn’t an easy task.

The team implemented a multi-channel approach, including email, web content, online engagement events, social media and trade press activity.

By 30 November 2020, the results showed that 222,144 CPD records were uploaded, an average of 2.2 items per social worker. On 1 December 2020, 92.5% had recorded CPD and renewed their registration.

Judges commented that the campaign was ‘clearly set out with readily identifiable objectives and a clear strategy’. They also commended the team on their impressive results and achievements, especially with only two colleagues on the project. 

Katie Florence, Head of Communications at Social Work England recently said:

“It’s fantastic to be recognised as campaign of the month in our first year of operation. From the outset our ethos has been to ensure that our comms approach drives engagement alongside compliance to ensure safe and effective practice for the millions of people who rely on social work support.

This campaign represents a huge team effort behind the scenes, with comms working hand in hand with our advice line, IT, policy and regional leads to enable our services to be public facing.”

Claudia Downs, External Communications Officer recently said: 

“This is great news for the CPD comms team. Taking on this campaign as new staff members in July 2020 – and delivering it entirely from home – has certainly been a challenge, but an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable one. We truly believe in the importance of CPD and its value for both social workers and the public, so to achieve this level of engagement from the sector is fantastic.”

Congratulations to the campaign team:

• Linda Ginesi, CPD Campaigns Manager, Social Work England
• Claudia Downs, External Communications Officer, Social Work England