Share your views with BASW England on the Social Work England consultation

Thank you for taking part in the BASW survey, to share your thoughts and views and to be part of our collective response. 

Rules will govern the way Social Work England (SWE) will work. They set out SWE’s processes and procedures and make clear what you can expect from them when regulating social workers in England. SWE’s rules outline what they will do, and their standards set out what they expect those they regulate to do.

The proposed registration rules set out how SWE will register social workers, renew their registration, and remove them from the register. They also make clear what information SWE will hold on the register and describe the structure of registration fees. SWE will consult on a fee increase pre-Sept 2020, when they will consider the fees of other regulators as they move towards a self-financing model.

The proposed registration rules are divided into three parts, setting out the different aspects of our registration process and requirements. They are separated into: The Social Work England (Registration) rules 2019; The Social Work England (Registration – Removal from the register and registration appeals) rules 2019 and The Social Work England (Registration – Fees) rules 2019.

SWE will create a straight-forward process of registration and renewal for social workers to ensure an up-to-date and accurate register. These rules also enable SWE to annotate the register with additional qualifications for social workers who are approved mental health professionals (AMHPs) and best interests assessors (BIAs). These particular annotations will be published on SWE’s register.

SWE are proposing:

i. that the registration period will move to 12 months, rather than 24 months, and we will collect renewal fees annually;
ii. that the registration period will run from 1 December each year; 
iii. that the renewal period will be 1 September to 30 November each year; 
iv. that the first renewal will be 1 December 2020; 
v. a pro-rata fee for registration depending on when an application is made to join the register; 
vi. no reduction in the fee for new graduates, and no scrutiny fees for applications from UK qualified graduates; 
vii. to annotate the register with additional qualifications for individuals who are approved mental health professionals and best interests assessors; and
viii. to evaluate a sample of social workers’ continuous professional development (CPD) annually at the point of registration renewal.

The proposed registration rules are set out on pages 8-48 of the Consultation on registration rules document.
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