One in nine social workers are yet to renew their registration, less than two days from the deadline.
Of those who need to renew in order to remain in practice, 89% had done so as of this morning, said Social Work England.
The deadline for renewal is 11.59pm tomorrow (30 November). Anyone who needs to renew, and has not done so by then, will be removed from the register. The only exception to this, under Social Work England rules, is if registrants were prevented from applying due to any error by the regulator, in which case it may extend the timeframe for them*.
Anyone who has submitted their renewal application and paid their £90 – or already set up a direct debit to pay in two installments – will have a further 21 days to submit their required piece of continuing professional development if they have not already done so.
Social workers on extended leave, such as maternity leave, and those who are not currently working, still need to complete the process to remain registered.
Those who join the register, or are restored to it, between September and November 2021 do not need to apply to renew or record CPD, but do have to pay registration for the upcoming year.
Those who want to leave the register can apply for voluntary removal. If they do not, and do not renew, they will be recorded as having failed to renew on the register.
Those social workers who are removed from the register because they haven’t applied to renew by 30 November will be charged a £135 restoration fee to apply to rejoin.
Value of registration
Social Work England pointed to a piece written last year by its executive director, registration, quality assurance and legal assurance, Phil Hallam, to highlight the value of registration.
“When someone asks me “what does regulation do for me?”, my answer is that regulation helps emphasise the importance of the work of social workers,” he said. “It provides them with specialist standards to meet so the public can see how they will act and gives everyone confidence that those on the register maintain their skills and knowledge. Above all, it allows all of us to be assured that the public, including some of the most vulnerable people in society, remain protected.”
* This story has been corrected to make clear that, for anyone who does not apply to renew their registration by 30 November, they will be removed, with the only exception being if they were prevented from applying by the deadline due to any error by the regulator. In such cases, Social Work England may, under its rules, give them more time. The story previously said that people would be removed for not applying “unless there were exceptional circumstances”. We apologise for the error.
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What evidence does Phil Hallam have to substantiate his claim?
Unless every single CPD upload is analysed by SWE, Phil Hallam can’t possibly know that social workers meet his “specialist standards” and “maintain their skills and knowledge”. If I was a member of the public or a ‘vulnerable’ person this kind of blather wouldn’t reassure me. Regulation is not a “thing’ just because you say so. Uttering random thoughts and unsubstantiated claims just demoralises those of us who want a competent regulator to lead and inspire us. Writing an in all probability never to be read narrative doesn’t make us more competent nor safer. How am I accountable if my “reflection” on how I “met” any of the standards starts and ends with the collection of my £90? Football Agents are regulated by the FA but that doesn’t ensure probity does it? I want my honesty, my development, my commitment, my knowledge, my skills, my trustworthiness and my being a safe practitioner who respects and empowers users of services to be scrutinised and checked. This kind of nonsense doesn’t and never can do that.
Raucous applause for Tahin!
There’s something about Phil Hallam’s blather that reveals he’s not a social worker and has no understanding of social work principles. Oh yes, it’s the wild unsubstantiated claim of “it provides them with specialist standards to meet so the public can see how they will act and gives everyone confidence that those on the register maintain their skills and knowledge. Above all, it allows all of us to be assured that the public, including some of the most vulnerable people in society, remain protected.” Wild.
SWE’s mask is slipping rapidly.
Couldn’t CPDs be done every 2 years at least rather than yearly? Nurses are required to revalidate every 3 years through NMC their regulator and doctors every 5 years through GMC.This seems to be excessive and unnecessary policing when SWE could be focusing on other issues to strengthen social work as a profession currently twarted by neoliberal agenda and has lost its ‘mojo’. Social workers are stressed, leaving and LAs facing shortages. Local authorities are heavily relying on poaching social workers trained by other countries causing brain drain in those countries. We also need Specialist social work training in this country to cater for therapeutic interventions urgently needed and specialist child protection practice. A generic social work qualification is insufficient for the complexity of work out here. We are letting down the children we remove from family homes into care and their parents too.
It starts with give us the £90 and ends with you are on the register now you have slithered us the 90 quid. The bit in the middle is the piffle that makes “careers” for bureaucrats and their chums.
11.59 or face prosecution.
The bar is closed takings are down. Whist drive for £135 starts now. Pay up before we send the plod round.
All the Regional Leads, all the PSWs, all the tweets, all the podcasts, all the pleading, all the threats couldn’t put social workers over the line. Again.