Your guide to the continuing professional development (CPD) changes

1. Professional development is changing, right?

Yes, it’s a result of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) taking over the regulation of social workers in England from the General Social Care Council (GSCC) as of 1 August. As part of the change, the GSCC’s post-registration training and learning (PRTL) system will be replaced by the HCPC’s continuing professional development (CPD) approach.

2. What does the switchover from PRTL to CPD mean?

It’s not just a change of acronym. At the moment social workers in England must demonstrate they’ve done at least 90 hours of professional development in order to re-register every three years. The HCPC still wants social workers to record their learning activities, but it doesn’t require them to complete a fixed number of hours. Instead, the incoming regulator is more interested in how learning activities have improved social workers’ skills and helped service users (see below).

Access the rest of this article and a comprehensive guide to the HCPC’s processes and requirements.