Registration of social care workers with Social Care Wales
All adult care home workers in Wales must register with Social Care Wales from 1 October 2022.
Currently, all care staff working in care homes for children, secure accommodation or domiciliary support services must register with Social Care Wales (SCW) within six months of the date they start employment.
This requirement will be extended to all adult care home workers in Wales from 1 October 2022.
New employees are given six months to become registered. However, in response to the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily extended this to 12 months for all new employees in these services. we took this decision to support providers to recruit and retain additional staff when they needed them most.
We now plan to re-instate the six-month period for registration in a phased way from 1 October 2022, aligning with the date the requirement for adult care home workers to register will come into force. This phased approach will involve the following:
- Any new care staff who start employment in care homes, secure accommodation or domiciliary support services between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023 will be required to register with SCW by 1 October 2023. Ancillary staff do not need to register with SCW unless they are providing personal care to residents.
- Any new care staff who start employment in care homes, secure accommodation or domiciliary support services on or after 1 April 2023 will be required to register with SCW within six months of their start date. Ancillary staff do not need to register with SCW unless they are providing personal care to residents.
SCW has produced a range of guidance, resources, and videos to support social care workers with registration. You can access those via Registration guidance videos | Social Care Wales (external link).
Other changes
You will be aware SCW has recently consulted on and introduced new arrangements for social care workers to register. These changes include:
- replacing the Principles and Values Award route with a simplified employer assessment model, based on core competencies
- reducing the required number of hours of continuous professional development (CPD) in the three-year registration period for social care workers from 90 to 45 hours
These changes will make registration and CPD less onerous and more accessible for staff.
Questions?
Email ciw@gov.wales.
Frequently asked questions
What does this mean for your service?
Currently, all care staff working in care homes for children, secure accommodation or domiciliary support services must register with Social Care Wales (SCW) within six months of the date they start employment. This requirement will be extended to all adult care home workers in Wales from 1 October 2022.
Why is CIW re-instating the six month period for social care workers to register with Social Care Wales?
The decision to extend the period of grace to 12 months was a temporary measure during the earlier parts of the pandemic. On the basis that SCW have made changes which make registration and CPD less onerous and more accessible for staff, we believe it is proportionate to re-instate the 6-month period in a phased way aligned to the date the requirement for adult care home workers to register comes into force.
How long have care workers got to register?
You can use the table below to determine when new employees must be registered with SCW.
| Date employment starts | Date registration with SCW is required |
|---|---|
| Prior to 1 October 2022 | 12 months from start date |
| Between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023 | 1 October 2023 |
| From 1 April 2023 | 6 months from start date |
What action will CIW take if during inspection, it finds staff are not registered within six months?
We will expect all providers to act in accordance with the requirements of the regulations. Where the provider is not meeting the legal requirements the types of action we take will be proportionate taking into account the impact on or risk to people using the service and the likelihood of reoccurrence.
How can I get more information about registration with SCW?
SCW has produced a range of guidance, resources, and videos to support social are workers with registration. You can access those via Registration guidance videos | Social Care Wales (external link).