Information for recruitment agencies

Recruitment agencies play a vital role in providing social care staff to work in Wales. As part of this role, it’s your responsibility to make sure social care staff signed up to your agency are registered with us at Social Care Wales.

You can find out more about why we register, who can register and the benefits of having a registered social care workforce here.

Some roles which require registration are:

• social care workers - must register within 6 months of working in care sector
• social workers - must be registered before they start working as a social worker
• social care managers - must register in this role when they start in their post.

You can check on someone’s registration on our Register.

All staff who are required to register with us need a qualification relevant to their job role. You can find out more about the required and recommended qualifications for different job roles here.

There is also guidance on how to apply for registration.

When a worker applies to register with us, they’re asked to select their primary employer. If they’re working with a recruitment agency they should choose the agency as their primary employer. If a worker has listed you as their primary employer you’ll have some responsibilities related to their registration.

All registered social care workers in Wales must hold a current Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate which has an ‘Enhanced with Barred List’ check for the relevant work area (children or adults). You’ll need to provide a date for the DBS, which should be within the last 3 years, as part of a worker’s application to register or renew their registration. If DBS information isn’t available you’ll be asked to confirm the DBS check is in progress and to provide confirmation when it’s been received. If your staff member has signed up to the update service you can use this to check their DBS.

You’ll need to endorse your agency worker’s application to register, and in some instances, their renewal forms. There are details of how to become an endorser and what this means.

Once you’ve become an endorser for your recruitment agency, you’ll be able to sign into your SCWonline account. Here you’ll find lots of useful information to help you, including a list of workers who’ve listed your organisation as their primary employment and any tasks you’ll need to complete, like endorsing an application. You’ll also see your workers’ registration, renewal and annual payment dates.

You may be asked to complete an assessment of a staff member if they don’t have a relevant qualification to join the Register. Employer assessment is used to decide whether a social care worker is fit to practise and has the appropriate understanding to apply for registration with us.

As it’s unlikely you’ll see a worker’s practice first-hand, you should work with the placement setting to discuss the relevant elements of the employer assessment process.

Social care workers who use the employer assessment route to register will need to complete one of the current qualifications listed in the qualification framework. We expect most social care workers to achieve this qualification within their first three-year registration period, but all social care workers have six years to complete it.

We recommend that social care workers complete the All Wales induction framework (AWIF) within the first 6 months. You’ll need to work with the placing employer to sign-off the different areas of the framework.

It is the staff member's responsibility to maintain their own registration. This includes paying the annual fee and renewing their registration every three years.

You need to support your staff to complete relevant continuing professional development. It’s important you discuss and plan with your staff how their CPD helps improve their delivery of care and support.

If a registered person fails to pay their fee or renew their registration, they’ll be removed from the Register. We let their primary employer know, so you’ll receive a notification to inform you of the removal. If a registered person is removed from the Register they’ll no longer be able to work in a social care role that requires registration in Wales.

If you’re made aware of concerns about a registered worker, you should work with the placement setting to investigate these concerns and make a referral to the fitness to practise team if appropriate. You can find out more about the fitness to practise process and how to make a referral on our website.