Reports on the findings from a literature review which looked at the variety of job roles that social workers perform in England, how the regulation of the profession is working and key areas of concern within the profession. The review was commissioned by the Professional Standards Authority to help inform its work overseeing the regulation of social workers and accrediting voluntary registers for care occupations. For the review searches were carried out on a wide range of online databases; key websites and selected journals. Over 2,000 items were retrieved, published between 2000 and the present, with 300 items selected for full text retrieval. The findings are discussed in the following areas: job roles; responsibilities and tasks; role ambiguity and conflict; team structure and supervision; working with other professionals; sector of employment; and the prevalence of stress, depression and substance misuse. In relation to how well the regulation social work profession is working and it could be improved, only a limited amount of literature was identified.