The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) has now published a new Subject Benchmark Statement (SBS) for Social Policy, marking the most substantial revision of the discipline’s benchmark framework since 2019. Developed through an expert advisory group and extensive consultation across the sector, the revised statement reflects both ongoing developments in social policy scholarship and significant changes in the higher education landscape.
This post highlights the key developments in the new benchmark, focusing on what has changed since the previous statement and what this means for Social Policy programmes, curriculum design and student learning.
Reframing Social Policy for Contemporary Challenges
We all know that defining the discipling is no easy task. The revised benchmark offers a renewed articulation of Social Policy as a field concerned with understanding, analysing and critically evaluating responses to social needs, risks and inequalities. While there is strong continuity with the 2019 statement, the new version more explicitly situates Social Policy within:
- Rapidly changing social, economic and political contexts
- Multi‑level governance and policy processes, from the local to the global
- Ongoing crises and long‑term challenges, including inequality, precarity and social injustice
This framing reinforces Social Policy’s distinctive contribution as both analytically rigorous and socially engaged and reaffirms the discipline’s relevance to contemporary and future policy debates.
QAA Cross‑Cutting Themes: Embedding Sector‑Wide Priorities
One of the most significant developments since the 2019 benchmark is the stronger and more integrated treatment of QAA cross‑cutting themes. These themes are woven throughout the Social Policy statement, shaping expectations around curriculum design, learning, teaching and assessment, rather than appearing as standalone or optional considerations.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
The new benchmark embeds EDI as a core principle underpinning Social Policy education. It emphasises inclusive curricula, awareness of structural and intersecting inequalities, and the development of graduates who can critically engage with diversity, power and social difference in both policy analysis and professional contexts.
Decolonisation and Global Perspectives
For the first time, the benchmark more clearly reflects sector‑wide conversations around decolonisation. This includes encouraging critical reflection on the origins of policy ideas, whose knowledge counts, and how social policy is shaped by historical, colonial and global power relations. It also supports greater engagement with comparative and international perspectives, and with voices and experiences that have traditionally been marginalised within policy scholarship.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Sustainability now features much more prominently than in previous editions. The benchmark highlights the relevance of long‑term thinking, intergenerational justice and sustainable welfare systems, encouraging programmes to integrate environmental, social and economic sustainability into their understanding of social policy challenges and responses.
Employability and Transferable Skills
The revised statement strengthens its emphasis on graduate capabilities beyond disciplinary knowledge alone. It foregrounds skills such as policy analysis, ethical reasoning, communication with diverse audiences and applied problem‑solving, reflecting the wide range of careers Social Policy graduates pursue and the discipline’s strong civic and public orientation.
Generative Artificial Intelligence
Aligning with QAA’s most recent benchmark revisions, the Social Policy statement acknowledges digital transformation and emerging technologies, including generative artificial intelligence. Rather than prescribing specific approaches, it encourages critical, ethical and reflective engagement with digital tools in learning, assessment and policy analysis.
Together, these cross‑cutting themes signal a clear shift towards benchmarking Social Policy in ways that align with wider social goals, sector priorities and student needs, while maintaining disciplinary integrity and flexibility.
Standards for Bachelor’s Degrees with Honours in Social Policy
The revised benchmark provides a clear and updated articulation of the standards expected of graduates from bachelor’s degrees with honours in Social Policy. It emphasises that, by the end of their studies, graduates should demonstrate:
- A critical understanding of key social policy concepts, theories and frameworks
- Knowledge of major policy areas (such as welfare, health, education, housing, work and social care) and how these intersect
- Awareness of how social policy is shaped by political, economic, social and cultural contexts
- The ability to analyse and evaluate policy debates, evidence and outcomes
- An understanding of social inequalities and the implications of policy for different groups and communities
In addition to subject‑specific knowledge, the benchmark highlights the development of intellectual and practical skills, including critical thinking, ethical awareness, effective communication and independent learning. The undergraduate standards emphasise progression over the course of study, culminating in graduates who are well prepared for employment, further study or civic and policy engagement.
New and Expanded Master’s‑Level Standards
A particularly important development in the new benchmark is the explicit articulation of standards at Master’s level, alongside those for undergraduate provision. While earlier Social Policy benchmarks focused predominantly on bachelor’s degrees, the revised statement recognises the distinct purposes and expectations of postgraduate taught study.
At Master’s level, the benchmark highlights:
- Advanced, systematic and critical understanding of social policy theories, concepts and debates
- Independent engagement with research, policy evidence and evaluation
- Critical reflection on values, ethics, power and inequality in policy design and implementation
- The ability to apply knowledge creatively and analytically to complex and uncertain policy problems
The inclusion of Master’s‑level standards provides a clearer reference point for postgraduate programme design and review, supports progression from undergraduate study, and reflects the growing importance of postgraduate education within Social Policy both academically and professionally.
Final Reflections
The revised Social Policy Subject Benchmark Statement combines continuity with renewal. It retains the discipline’s strong critical and interdisciplinary foundations while responding to major developments in higher education, public policy and society more broadly.
The standards are a guide for a diverse higher education sector. It provides a broad overview of key issues, debates and themes which should inform curriculum development conversations and practice across the discipline. For Social Policy educators and programme teams, the new benchmark offers not only a quality assurance reference point, but also a framework for reflection on curriculum content, pedagogy, assessment and the kinds of graduates Social Policy seeks to develop.
The revised benchmark can be accessed from: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements/subject-benchmark-statement–social-policy
A Note of Thanks from the Chair
As Chair of the Advisory Board, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who contributed their expertise, time and commitment to the development of this revised Subject Benchmark Statement and thank those individuals and groups who responded to the consultation.
In particular, I would like to thank:
Deputy Chairs
- Professor Stephen Sinclair, Glasgow Caledonian University
- Dr Enrico Reuter, University of York
Advisory Board Members
- Dr Emily Ball, University of Birmingham
- Dr Dave Beck, University of Salford
- Mr Stephen Boyd, IPPR Scotland
- Dr Gideon Calder, Swansea University
- Dr Temidayo Eseonu, Lancaster University
- Mr Richard Machin, Nottingham Trent University
- Dr Athina Mara, Roehampton University
- Mr Andrew McClintock, Sky
- Dr Clive Sealey, University of Worcester
- Mrs Libby Steel, University of Nottingham
- Mr Cohen Taylor, Ulster University
- Dr Calum Webb, University of Sheffield
- Dr Jay Wiggan, University of Edinburgh
- Dr Volkan Yilmaz, Ulster University
I am also very grateful to QAA colleagues Kevin Kendall and Nadira Begum for their guidance and support throughout the process.
The collective expertise and collegiality of the group have been central to producing a benchmark that reflects both the strength and the diversity of Social Policy as a discipline.
Author: Dr Lee Gregory is an Associate Professor in Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.