A new way for social care workers to register and a reduction in the number of hours of continuous professional development (CPD) social care workers need to do to renew their registration have now come into effect.
The changes mean that anyone applying to register as a social care worker in Wales, who doesn’t have the required qualification for their role, can now apply using the employer assessment route.
The new route allows employers to assess their workers’ competence and provide assurance that the workers have the appropriate understanding to be registered with us.
The amount of CPD social care workers have to do to renew their registration has also been reduced and social care workers will now have to complete at least 45 hours of CPD every three years rather than the previous 90 hours.
Social workers and social care managers will still have to complete 90 hours of CPD every three years to renew their registration.
Additionally, the ‘Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core’ qualification has been added to the list of qualifications people can complete to register with us following feedback from the sector.
The changes have been brought in to help make the registration process simpler and to make it as easy as possible for people to work in the social care sector.
The changes have come into effect following a consultation we carried out earlier this year in which we set out our proposals for the changes to registration for social care workers.
Eighty per cent of those responding said they supported the introduction of the employer assessment route, while 77 per cent said they supported the plan to reduce the amount of CPD social care workers have to do to renew their registration.