The IFSW Education Commission expresses its deep concern and solidarity with social work academics and higher education staff across the UK who are facing redundancies, restructurings and sustained institutional pressure.
Widespread job losses and the threat of further redundancies are already undermining academic programmes and destabilising teaching, research and student support. Many social work programmes have been affected by these cuts and hundreds of social work academics have lost their jobs. Even where social work is not directly targeted, programmes are being damaged by deep cuts to the social sciences and humanities. Social work cannot flourish in isolation: it depends fundamentally on interdisciplinary knowledge, critical scholarship and strong links with allied disciplines.
These pressures are not accidental. They stem from structural failures in UK higher education, including the marketisation of universities, chronic underfunding, hostile and racialised rhetoric towards international students, and increasingly authoritarian managerial responses. In some institutions, staff face the threat of lockouts and punitive restructuring; in others, entire campuses are closing or reports indicate that up to 30% of posts are at risk.
The consequences for social work education are profound. Programme quality, research capacity, placement partnerships and the ethical mission of social work are all jeopardised when universities are run as markets rather than public goods.
The Commission stands in solidarity with colleagues, trade unions and students resisting these developments. Defending social work education means defending decent working conditions, academic freedom and an inclusive, publicly funded higher education system committed to social justice rather than austerity.
IFSW Education Commission