Professional identity is central to sustaining confidence, resilience, and commitment in social work practice, yet remains contested and shaped by organizational and external pressures. While identity has been widely theorized, less is known about how it varies across career stages or how it relates to retention intentions. This article reports findings from the piloting of a draft social work identity scale in England, developed as part of an international project. The scale explored three dimensions: belonging and commitment, shared professional characteristics, and engagement with professional structures. Data were collected via an online survey from experienced and early-career practitioners. Experienced practitioners reported stronger professional belonging, greater pride and loyalty, and higher levels of engagement with the profession’s history, philosophy and structures. Early-career practitioners expressed greater ambivalence, including concealment of professional identity in response to stigma or public misunderstanding. Lower professional belonging was consistently associated with reduced intention to remain in practice over one-, three- and five-year timeframes, particularly among early-career practitioners. The findings suggest that strengthening professional identity early in practice may support retention and reinforce social work’s collective voice.