Cardiff University emeritus professor in social research receives MBE

Emeritus professor and former Director of Social Work at Cardiff University has been awarded an MBE for policy and legislation development in Wales.

Professor Andrew Pithouse is recognised in the King’s New Year Honours 2026 among an array of figures from popular culture to leading academics across the United Kingdom.

Between 2007 and 2012 Professor Pithouse was Director of Research and Deputy Director of the School of Social Sciences and seconded to Welsh Government in 2012 as a specialist advisor, with an influential contribution to the 2014 Social Services Act.

On receiving the award, Professor Pithouse said:

We spoke to Professor Pithouse about his achievements and what led him to his MBE award.

What was your reaction on learning you had been awarded an MBE, and what does the honour mean to you?

AP MBE: The MBE is simply welcome recognition of the several years I spent working closely with Welsh Government civil servants and ministers by bringing a social science perspective to the development of legislation and policy in social care and its interface with health. This helped place Wales at the forefront of joint strategic planning and practice.

I was closely involved in the initiation of Social Care Wales (Wales’ new regulatory and improvement body for social care and social work), within the framework of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care Wales Act 2016.

Also, much progress was made in laying the foundations for a 10-year national care strategy in Wales which is now being implemented. I was also much engaged throughout the Covid emergency and its aftermath with a team of superb and well led civil servants who worked tirelessly and were largely unsung.

The MBE I was awarded in January is dedicated to them.

Looking back to your time as an undergraduate at Cardiff University, what first sparked your interest in sociology and academic research?

AP MBE: My journey from undergraduate to professor emeritus stems from an abiding fascination with sociology and its capacity for methodological renewal and policy relevance - be that the critical and progressive illumination of lives via qualitative enquiry or the compelling revelations and insights that stem from big data.

I came to Cardiff as an undergraduate in the mid-1970s with little in the way of prior academic achievement at school due to a mixture of laziness and the distractions of a 1960s London world of cultural and political revolution.

I over-compensated to avoid the failures of the past and prepared for my finals with anxious determination and it paid off.

Which part of your research, particularly in child protection and family services, do you feel has had the most lasting impact?

AP MBE: My post-doc research work in the field of child and family services was always with good colleagues in the School and beyond. Some of our collaborations that depict the very challenging world of everyday child protection practice has stood the test of time and is still cited internationally.

For example, work with colleagues in Wales and England analysing cognitively ‘live’ risk analysis by social workers was cited in the landmark UK government-sponsored Munro Review of Child Protection.

During your time as Director of Research, what achievements or developments are you most proud of?

AP MBE: It was a real privilege working with a small research committee to support colleagues and their collective brilliance which later led to the School being in the UK’s top 5 universities in education and sociology in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

What were the most significant challenges and insights from your years advising Welsh Government ministers, especially during the COVID pandemic?

AP MBE: Throughout this period the memories of being inside government during Covid and seeing what also went on in other UK countries, have remained with me.

Seriously difficult decisions with real consequences had to be made and unavoidable risks were run.

Working closely with ministers in highly stressed contexts who were worn with anxiety but still firmly overseeing a policy world that sought to tackle crisis and uncertainty was an experience I wouldn’t care to repeat, but I remain impressed and deeply grateful for their commitment.

In your opinion, what does the future of social care look like?

AP MBE: Social care across the UK for adults continues to be a chronically troubled institution for a variety of reasons, most of which are financial and strategic.

Social care is not short of excellent people and groundbreaking examples of innovative practice.

The issue, as ever, is about going to scale based upon strong standards and sufficient funds across the UK to pay a decent income to staff and to deliver care for free at the point of need, like the NHS.

There is no shortage of answers and solutions. Until we get a properly resourced national care service the future will remain simply inadequate - if not worryingly bleak - for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

As Chair of the Strategic Advisory Group for Centre for Adult Social Care Research (CARE), what priorities are you focused on now?

AP MBE: Our priorities in the Group are very much about how we can help CARE demonstrate the impact of their research on practice and especially where research has led to significant plans around implementation by social care providers.

We’re keen to help CARE regarding the aspect of practitioner research and how the centre can build research capacity within organisations.

I’ve also continued to publish on aspects of comparative social policy with colleagues in social sciences at Cardiff University and Scandinavia.

Below is Emerita Reader Sara Delamont’s biopic for Emeritus Professor Andrew Pithouse MBE written specially for his award:

Professor Pithouse was an undergraduate at Cardiff University in sociology in the 1970s and achieved the unusual result of a first-class grade in all eight courses.

He subsequently did a PhD, published later as a book, on social workers in a child protection team.

He later became a lecturer in Social Work, and rose to professor in the social sciences.

In parallel he has a long history of engagement with policy issues for the Welsh Government.

His career in these 2 spheres is now rewarded by the MBE.

He can also be a funny after dinner speaker…

Find out more about Emeritus Professor Andrew Pithouse MBE and social work at Cardiff University.