John* has a motto: “You don’t choose to be a social worker, social work chooses you.” It reflects his experience giving up his first career to become a carer for a family member with mental health problems. After they died, he realised he wanted to help other vulnerable people.
Yet despite that initial strength of purpose, he was beaten down by the cost of retraining. As a graduate, he studied an MA in social work, which cost £16,000, yet the bursary he received was just £12,000. While he recalls coursemates dropping out, he did weekend work and took out a credit card.
