The Social Workers (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2022 will be taken forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.
The Department for Education (DfE) sought views on proposed changes to the Social Workers Regulations 2018 “which are primarily technical in nature and do not reflect a change in policy direction for the regulator.”
The DfE said “the aim of the changes is to support Social Work England to improve its existing flexible model of professional regulation to secure public protection, foster professionalism, and ensure standards of practise.”
The consultation set out draft regulations which would:
• give greater clarity to the regulator’s processes;
• remove operational inefficiencies identified by the regulator and/or the Department for Education; and
• correct unintended anomalies in the original drafting.
The Social Workers Regulations 2018 set out the detail of the regulatory framework for Social Work England, covering:
- registration of social workers
- education and training
- discipline and fitness to practise
- restrictions on practice, protected titles and offences
- powers of intervention
The changes to social work regulations largely affect fitness-to-practice processes, as well as related matters around information sharing.
The Government published its consultation response recently, in which it said:
Following careful consideration of responses to this consultation, the department intends to proceed with legislation to introduce all the proposed changes to Social Work England’s regulatory framework. The Social Workers (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2022 will be taken forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, we anticipate that the Regulations will come into force on 1 December 2022 to align with the Social Work England’s annual registration cycle.
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