Lewis warns speed of home care staff registration will depend on spending review

The speed at which domiciliary care workers join the social care register will depend on the sector’s fate in this year’s comprehensive spending review, the care services minister said yesterday.

At the General Social Care Council’s annual conference in London, Ivan Lewis confirmed that the register would be opened to about 200,000 domiciliary care workers late this year or early next.

“The pace we can do that totally depends on the outcome of the CSR,” he said.

The GSCC has estimated that registering the 750,000 domiciliary and residential care workers over four years would cost £11.2m in the first year, rising to £16.3m in the fourth.

However, that was based on a fee of £15 each – and yesterday Lewis announced it would be £20.

The Department of Health has rejected the GSCC’s recommendation for children’s home managers and workers to be registered alongside domiciliary care staff but Lewis said they would be the next groups to be registered.