The 2025 Social Worker of the Year Awards took place last week. In this blog, IMPACT Director Jon Glasby shares his experience of this years awards, and as a trustee of the awards.
Alongside graduation, one of my favourite nights is the Social Worker of the Year Awards. I’m so proud to be a trustee, celebrating the difference that good social work makes to people’s lives and to communities.
Social work isn’t well understood by the public, the media or policy makers; its role (with a mixture of care and control) can often be ambiguous; and you can find yourself alongside people in really difficult and distressing situations, at some of the hardest times of their lives. And yet this just makes it even more important that people are supported in the work they do, and feel able to keep on making a difference.
Watching people get nominated, shortlisted and then win awards for the work they do is so joyful and emotional. I’ve seen the difference it makes to people’s careers and to recruitment and retention – but more than that, it makes a difference in terms of the pride people feel, in a profession that doesn’t always do pride well. People seem to have an extra spring in their step, a greater desire to keep on keeping on, and a greater confidence in themselves and their work – all through knowing that colleagues and judges saw something important in what they were doing and wanted to say thank you.
And as the photos below suggest, the social workers taking part – although perhaps not normally known for their sartorial elegance – can also look fabulous!
At this year’s awards, there were some lovely moments for broader members of the IMPACT ‘family’. The University of Birmingham’s Siân Thomas won social work lecturer of the year, Birmingham Children’s Trust won supportive employer of the year, and Birmingham’s Andrea Bassi won children’s social worker of the year. Really special once again was the Practitioner-led research award, designed and rolled out thanks to input from IMPACT, and kindly sponsored by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). This was won by the experts in practice project, Darlington Borough Council, with Essex’s Lisa Richey winning the silver award and a number of other really great examples of research in practice making the shortlist.
The next Monday it’s always back to the day job – but shining a light on good social work (and on good practitioner-research) matters, and taking a moment to celebrate can sometimes make all the difference.
