Winners announced for the social workers of the year awards 2022

England’s only national social care awards saw seventeen managers, practitioners, teams and organisations walk away with gold awards.

A further 22 practitioners, managers, teams and organisations were recognised as silver award winners from among the 90 finalists. Additionally, Social Work Student Connect, a group set up by social worker trainer Sibohan Maclean to deliver learning to students during the pandemic, won a special commendation as well as being nominated in four categories. 

The ceremony, which took place in London, was hosted by Broadcast Journalist and TV Presenter Ashley John-Baptiste who has created many documentaries, including ‘Split up in Care: Life without Siblings’.

Following the ceremony, Peter Hay, Chair of Trustees at the Social Work Awards said: ‘Our winners have shown skilled and dedicated social work that changes lives by applying their skills, values and determination; they are truly worthy winners of this recognition.’

Social Justice Advocate of the Year

Kirstie Baughan, Central Bedfordshire Council audit manager, claimed the Social Justice Advocate of the Year gold award and was the joint overall winner of Social Worker of the Year, in recognition of her voluntary work with refugees and asylum-seeking children.

Ms Baughan is the regional lead for the charity Care4Calasis, an organisation that works with refugees in the UK, France and Belgium. She also works as a volunteer assessor for Refugees at Home, which partners people seeking refuge in the UK with households who have a spare room.

I feel very pleased to introduce my successor Kirstie Baughan who not only won this year’s Social Work gold award for Social Justice Advocate but also one of the joint winners of the Overall Social Worker of the year at the Social Work Awards Friday night…https://t.co/93b7Qsodj1

— Vivian (@vivokezetirado) November 6, 2022

The PhD student, who is studying at the University of Bedfordshire, has delivered volunteer work in the form of English classes, advocating for better food in asylums and hotels and supports young people to advocate for their needs with mental health services.

Earlier this year, she secured funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research to carry out a her PhD on the integration experiences of unaccompanied children leaving care.

The Social Work Awards said: ‘The judges were impressed by how Kirstie has truly committed to improving the lives of asylum-seeking children and young people, taking the time to “walk in their shoes” and develop her understanding of this area of practice.’

Adult Team of the Year Award

A learning disability team that spent six years fighting to move a woman out of a mental health hospital has also won gold in the social worker of the year category, as well as adult team of the year.

‘The Team around Kasibba’, which is part of the Camden integrated learning disability Service in London, spent six years battling to move Kasibba, which isn’t her real name, a black African woman, out of a mental health hospital.

The woman who has been diagnosed with autism, had been inappropriately kept in a mental health hospital all of her adult life and a racist narrative had developed that she was dangerous, said the Social Work Awards.

However, in August, a judge decided she should return home, which the awards said was down to the ‘huge courage and determination of the multidisciplinary team around Kasibba, who have worked tirelessly for six years to achieve this outcome for her’.

Ever wondered what a team who bring love, hope, anti-racism and persistence to work look like? Here they are! The national social work awards think so too! ❤️🎉 @mpratt969 @Georgia_Gould @CamdenCouncil @NHS_NCLICB @NCL_ICS @Alice_CamdenMH @annawrightwho @CI_NHS @1adass @clentonF https://t.co/QEF8SR9FPr

— jess mcgregor (@jessmcparrott) November 5, 2022

Bright Futures Ahead

This year’s ceremony, the first to happen in-person in three years, saw two new awards announced.

Charlotte Elliot, from Devon’s Council won for Supporting Children in Education, due to her work in secondary schools. Charlotte has championed teachers connecting with students to encourage them to follow their ambitions.

Hull Council won the second new award, which is known as the Digital Transformation Award, for two projects that were created to highlight children’s experience of the care system.

The first was a podcast which explored children’s poor experiences of changing social workers and the second was producing a short, animated film created by children and families in the city, which illustrated a child waking up in care for the first time.

Wakefield Council also bagged two awards this year despite Ofsted calling the councils children’s services ‘inadequate’ in July 2018.

The council received a silver in the Supportive Social Work Employer Award and Practice Educator of the Year Award went to Carolyn Smith. During the subsequent three years it’s been transformed, leading to a ‘good’ judgement with ‘outstanding’ leadership according to Ofsted in 2021, it is believed to be one of the fastest improvements of a council’s children’s service in the country.

The Award Winners of 2022:

• Lifetime achievement: Sarah Lowe
• Children’s social worker of the year: Annmarie Nero, Achieving for Children
• Adult social worker of the year: Bhavna Maher, Leicester City Council
• Mental health social worker of the year: Tara Mitchell, Leeds and York NHS Partnership Foundation Trust
• Team leader of the year, children’s services: Cheryl Grazette, Hertfordshire County Council
• Team leader of the year, adult services: Lucy Hunt, Devon County Council
• Supportive Social Work Employer of the Year: children’s social care, Durham County Council
• Team of the year, children’s services: Families First Fostering
• Practice educator of the year: Carolyn Smith, Wakefield Council
• Newly qualified social worker of the year, children’s: Amy White, Essex County Council
• Newly qualified social worker of the year, adult: Helen Southgate, Suffolk County Council
• University of the year: University of Chester
• Student social worker of the year: Solomon Tugbiyele, Anglia Ruskin University

Photo by Jelly Dollar