Critical and Radical Social Work • vol 6 • no 3 • 415–17 • © Policy Press 2018

Print ISSN 2049 8608 • Online ISSN 2049 8675 • https://doi.org/10.1332/204986018X15421187763061

Accepted for publication 06 November 2018 • First published online 27 November 2018

voices from the frontline

National Assessment and Accreditation System:
where are we up to with NASS
Malcolm Jones, mal.jon2@outlook.com
Social Work Practitioner, UK

key words NASS • National Assessment and Accreditation System • social workers

To cite this article: Jones, M. (2018) National Assessment and Accreditation System: where are
we up to with NASS, Critical and Radical Social Work, 6(3): 415–17,
DOI: 10.1332/204986018X15421187763061
IP : 114.43.134.134 On: Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:33:26

The National Assessment and Accreditation System (NASS) is being brought in by

the government in England to look at social work standards. The system will involve
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tests and assessments of practitioners, which the government argues will increase
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public confidence in the profession. The government has already spent millions on
NASS. The Association of Directors for Children’s Services has previously estimated
that the full roll-out will cost £23 million. Over £2 million has been given to the
private companies KPMG and Morning Lane (which has links with the Chief Social
Worker) to set up the scheme. When pilot projects were completed, it was noted
that black and older social workers disproportionately failed the test.
The main social work union, Unison, and other social work organisations have come
out against NASS, noting the problems with the test itself, but, more importantly,
arguing that the focus of NASS offers little to the real problems that social workers
and service users face, such as poverty, inequality and austerity. Instead, critics argue,
NASS will institutionalise the ‘blame game’ by blaming families and ‘poor social work
practices’ for family poverty and stress. Despite these real concerns, the government is
still going ahead, with it slowing down its implementation rather than withdrawing
it. The intention is that NASS will be implemented in two phases and social workers
will initially be asked to ‘volunteer’ to do the tests. There are concerns that newly
qualified staff may come under pressure to ‘volunteer’.
As part of the implementation strategy, even more money is being given to private
organisations to set up the scheme. Mott Macdonald, a construction company, has
been given a £3.6 million contract to roll it out until the end of 2019. Deloitte, the
accountancy mega-firm, will be involved in setting the questions that practitioners
will need to address!
The scheme tests competencies against the government’s ‘Social work knowledge
and skills statement’. The first step is for employer endorsement. Once a practitioner
has been deemed ready, then they will have to go to a regional testing centre, set
up and run by a private organisation. The testing will involve: the digital assessment
of multi-choice questions on legislation and child development; simulated practice
observations, using role-play scenarios with actors; a formal written assessment; and

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a test of online video-simulation scenarios, looking at how knowledge and skills are
applied in practice.
Phase one councils are Bury, Leeds, Manchester, Oldham and Wigan. Phase
two councils are Bexley, Bolton, Bradford, Calderdale, Cornwall, Essex, Hackney,
Islington, Lewisham, North Yorkshire, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Trafford and
Waltham Forest.
Unison is asking social workers not to volunteer. Unison’s own survey showed that
99% of social workers are overwhelmingly against NASS for some of the following
reasons. First of all, social workers have already got systems in place. Social workers
have to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. They have
continual professional development supervision reviews, employees have performance
management tools and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) looks at quality
assurance.
The difficulty for many social workers is high caseloads, cuts in services and
the constant worry that if anything goes wrong, they will vilified by society and
blamed by their employers. A workforce that is already stretched with burdensome
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bureaucracy and paperwork does not need even more – in the form of national testing.
Practitioner energy, both practical and emotional, will be involved in preparing for
the tests, shifting more time and resources to passing a test when the money could
go to the front line. Tests that have right and wrong answers, set in multiple choice
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questions, do not put the difficulties that social workers face in context and there
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is no room for grey areas; unfortunately, human beings do not fit tick boxes. This
could eventually end up in a two-tier workforce based around those who passed the
tests and those who fail.
Implicit in the testing is the belief that a number of social worker are not ‘up to
scratch’. However, there is no evidence that this is the case. There is no structure
in place to support workers who fail the test, though it is likely to lead to greater
demoralisation, which already exists in the profession.
The tests also shift support away from local supervision and local authorities towards
a top-down, absolute view of social work that has no room for complexities. One
example is that the geographical and local make-up of different authorities can mean
different responses in an inner-city area to a rural area due to both the provision of
resources and the cultural make-up of an area.
NASS is also not ideologically neutral. It fits the Conservative neoliberal agenda
and is linked to other areas, such as the training organisation Frontline. Terry Murphy
argues that the neo-conservative organisations involved and explicit elitism should be
questioned. Having private companies take control of the agenda pushes the culture
of ‘private good, public bad’, with concerns about the structures being set up for
the further privatisation of social work .
We do not have to look very far to see a potential future – it is offered by the
trajectory of Probation Services in England, taken out of the public sector, privatised
and now struggling to offer any form of service provision. Indeed, private company
probation contracts are now being brought to an early conclusion – a disaster with
a bailout that has cost the government close to £500 million. However, the blame
by government is on the individual companies themselves making mistakes, rather
than the private market not working in the care field. NASS was initially opposed
by several social work organisations, though some are now saying that they are
prepared to see how it works in practice. This sets a very dangerous precedent. Where

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local authorities have volunteered to get involved in the service, they are putting
significant resources into selling the scheme to social workers, encouraging them to
volunteer to help ‘shape’ the system and make it as social worker-friendly as possible.
The implication is that volunteering will be good for career development. This is a
problem as it can seem for some social workers that if they do not do NASS, this may
mean a disadvantage to them in the future, and for a minority who see management
as a way forward, they will comply so as to move up the ladder. The Department
for Education is now arguing that those who have already taken the new assessment
see NASS as positive – though they are few in number. However, this sample of
volunteers is hardly likely to say otherwise.
To try and tame NASS will not work. The government agenda is both ideological
and ruthless. Its aim is to turn social work into a narrow profession, built upon ‘systems
approaches’ that lead to blaming families for their ‘failings’, viewing the solution as
changing behaviours and family dynamics rather than providing resources to address
questions of poverty, inequality or oppression. NASS means that social workers will be
tested in a technocratic way, as though there is only one answer to any problem. It is
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part of an assault on social work that takes away any sense of creativity and relationship
building with families. It is part of a work system that will further undermine trust
between workers and families. It will create a far more alienated workforce and a
system where children are more likely to suffer significant harm.
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