Qualifications and other ways to register

There are several ways to register as an adult care home worker:

1. Register with a qualification

Workers can register using the current City and Guilds Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core but will then need to complete the City and Guilds Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care: Practice within three years.

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.

Workers who qualified with Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (Diploma, QCF or NVQ) or equivalent may also register using this route. However, these qualifications are no longer available to undertake.

What you need to do:

• Check that your qualification is accepted for registration
• apply to register on SCWonline.

2. Register by employer assessment

Employers can confirm their workers’ application to register after assessing their understanding against a list of areas.

The Employer must be confident that the worker has the necessary understanding, as set out in the employer’s assessment. The employer completes this assessment by confirming the information in their SCWonline account when a worker submits an online application. Online applications will also need to be endorsed by the employer.

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.

Read our frequently asked questions about the employer assessment route.

There are several ways to register as a domiciliary care worker.

1. Register with a qualification

Workers can register using the current City and Guilds Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core but will then need to complete the City and Guilds Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care: Practice within three years.

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.

Workers who qualified with Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (Diploma, QCF or NVQ) or equivalent may also register using this route. However, these qualifications are no longer available to undertake.

What you need to do:

• Check that your qualification is accepted for registration in services for adults or if working in services for children and young people
• apply to register on SCWonline.

2. Register by employer assessment

Employers can confirm their workers’ application to register after assessing their understanding against a list of areas.

The Employer must be confident that the worker has the necessary understanding, as set out in the employer’s assessment. The employer completes this assessment by confirming the information in their SCWonline account when a worker submits an online application. Online applications will also need to be endorsed by the employer.

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.

Read our frequently asked questions about the employer assessment route.

Workers who register with their experience by having their competence confirmed, before October 2022 won’t need a qualification to re-register.

There are several ways to register as a residential child care worker:

1. Register with a qualification

Workers can register using the current City and Guilds Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core but will then need to complete the City and Guilds Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care: Practice within three years.

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.

Workers who qualified with Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (Diploma, QCF or NVQ) or equivalent may also register using this route. However, these qualifications are no longer available to undertake.

What you need to do:

• Check that your qualification is accepted for registration
• apply to register on SCWonline.

2. Register by employer assessment

Employers can confirm their workers’ application to register after assessing their understanding against a list of areas.

The Employer must be confident that the worker has the necessary understanding, as set out in the employer’s assessment. The employer completes this assessment by confirming the information in their SCWonline account when a worker submits an online application. Online applications will also need to be endorsed by the employer.

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.

Read our frequently asked questions about the employer assessment route.

There are several ways to register as a residential family centre worker:

1. Register with a qualification

Workers can register using the current City and Guilds Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core but will then need to complete the City and Guilds Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care: Practice within three years.

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.

Workers who qualified with Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (Diploma, QCF or NVQ) or equivalent may also register using this route. However, these qualifications are no longer available to undertake.

What you need to do:

• Check that your qualification is accepted for registration
• apply to register on SCWonline.

2. Register by employer assessment

Employers can confirm their workers’ application to register after assessing their understanding against a list of areas.

The Employer must be confident that the worker has the necessary understanding, as set out in the employer’s assessment. The employer completes this assessment by confirming the information in their SCWonline account when a worker submits an online application. Online applications will also need to be endorsed by the employer.

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.

Read our frequently asked questions about the employer assessment route.

The links below list the required qualifications to apply to register as a social care manager. In addition to this route, we have introduced a new route to register to support organisations with a manager vacancy.

Social care workers who hold the relevant level 3 qualification or level 4 USW Certificate in Step up to Management, will now be able to register as a social care manager if you are enrolled on the level 4 or level 5 management qualification. This will start a new registration cycle and you will have to complete the level 5 by your renewal in 3 years’ time. If you are not already registered with us, you can apply to register at SCWonline.

In addition, social workers, nurses and occupational therapists will now be able to register as a social care manager with a requirement to complete a management qualification within the first three years of your registration. The management qualification must be a minimum of 37 credits, assessed in the workplace and at level 3 or above.

What if I am working in one of these roles but already registered?

You will need to contact us on registration@socialcare.wales and request either a change of registration, or an additional registration.

You will be asked to confirm employment details for the new role and in some cases, we will seek endorsement from a signatory.

• Adoption service manager
• Adult care home manager
  
• Adult placement/shared lives manager
• Advocacy managers (services for children)
• Domiciliary care manager (services for adults)
  
• Domiciliary care manager (services for children)
• Fostering service manager
• Residential child care manager
• Residential family centre manager.

Find what qualifications you need to register as a social worker

Social work qualification verification service

We offer a qualification verification service that verifies any approved qualification in social work awarded in Wales (this includes qualifications before the Social Work Degree).

You can request a unique letter that shows:

• the qualification obtained
• qualification date
• training establishment attended
• the name of person who received the award.

Please note that

• this service can take up to 20 working days
• we can only issue letters of verification to the award holder
• we require written consent to send it to an employer or employment agency
• the letter of verification isn’t proof of identity
• the letter isn’t proof that a person is a registered qualified social worker
• employers have a responsibility to check these details.

If you want a letter of verification for a qualification awarded in Wales complete the form below and send to registration@socialcare.wales

If you have a question or if you can't find what you are looking for get in touch with us.