Registration of social care workers with Social Care Wales is changing

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, CIW temporarily extended this to 12 months for all new employees in these services. CIW took this decision to support providers to recruit and retain additional staff when they needed them most.

CIW 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:

1. Any new 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.

2. Any new 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.

 CW 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

 Other changes

You will be aware SCW has recently consulted on and introduced new arrangements for social care workers to register.  These changes include:

1. replacing the Principles and Values Award route with a simplified employer assessment model, based on core competencies

2. 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

3. These changes will make registration and CPD less onerous and more accessible for staff.