Charles Hunter Associates Guide to Renewing your Social Work England registration.
Charles Hunter Associates Guide to Renewing your Social Work England registration.
The deadline for renewing a Social Work England registration is fast approaching with the renewal window being between the 1st of September to the 30th of November. All social workers who wish to continue practising must be registered with Social Work England. As ‘Social Worker’ is a protected title, it is illegal to use the title unless registered. We have outlined below, the key steps to renewing your registration.
All individuals that need to register include those on extended leave e.g. maternity leave, those involved in open fitness to practice cases, those unemployed or not currently working as a social worker and those who are retired but want to remain registered.
The steps needed to take to renew a registration are:
- Complete the online registration form.
- Pay the renewal fee.
- Met the continuous professional development requirements.
The online registration form takes about 20-30 minutes.
The Process
To begin the process, log into your Social Work England account. Once logged in, you will be taken to your account information. On this home screen, there will be a ‘Apply to Renew your Registration’ button during the renewal period (1st September – 30th November).
Read through all the requirements on the next page. CPD can be updated at a later date, as long as it is uploaded before the deadline date (30th November). You can save and return to the registration at any time.
Ensure all your personal details are up to date. If you need to change any details, edit them at this stage. Once you have confirmed the details are correct, select save and continue.
You will be brought on to the employment details page. Fill in all your employment details from the last 12 months, including employment outside of the UK. Begin with your most recent or current employment. You can add new employers, at any stage or include if you are unemployed.
If you are registered with another social work or healthcare regulator, in the UK or abroad, ensure you include this information when prompted. You do not need to include your Social Work England registration.
Read through all the professional standards, and tick the check box to confirm you understand the professional standards and will continue to meet them.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
The next step is the CPD section. You can choose to upload your CPD now or do it at a later date, but it must be uploaded by the 30th of November.
We recommended typing your CPD into another document and copying and pasting it into the online form. There is no option to save the form as a draft.
If you would prefer to record the CPD at a later date, select the declaration at the bottom of the page confirming you would like to record it at a later date.
Social Work England have released a CPD Standard that sets out what social workers need to do to maintain their registration:
· 4.1 Incorporate feedback from a range of sources, including from people with lived experience of my social work practice.
· 4.2 Use supervision and feedback to critically reflect on, and identify my learning needs, including how I use research and evidence to inform my practice.
· 4.3 Keep my practice up to date and record how I use research, theories and frameworks to inform my practice and my professional judgement.
· 4.4 Demonstrate good subject knowledge on key aspects of social work practice and develop knowledge of current issues in society and social policies impacting on social work.
· 4.5 Contribute to an open and creative learning culture in the workplace to discuss, reflect on and share best practice.
· 4.6 Reflect on my learning activities and evidence what impact continuing professional development has on the quality of my practice.
· 4.7 Record my learning and reflection on a regular basis and in accordance with Social Work England’s guidance on continuing professional development.
· 4.8 Reflect on my own values and challenge the impact they have on my practice.
Once you have saved your CPD, return to your application via the ‘Return to your renewal application’ button on the top left.
Once you have returned to your application, the CPD screen will show that you have recorded information.
The next section, safe and effective practice is where you must disclose any convictions, cautions or penalty notices. Any previous safe and effective practice declarations that have been made, do not need to be made again. You must include convictions outside of England and Wales.
If there are any changes in circumstances that bar you from working with vulnerable groups, you must declare this. You must also include any health conditions that would affect your work.
Paying your Registration Fee
Once all the information has been filled out, you will pay your registration fee. If you are paying before the 24th of September, you will have the option of direct debit or to pay in full. After the 24th of September, there is only the option to pay in full. The instalment option is two payments of £45, while the full payment is £90.
Once payment is complete, take a final look over all your details and confirm if they are correct. If you need to change something, there is the option to edit. Finally, read and tick the final declarations.
A confirmation page will come up once this is completed including a reference number. Ensure you note down the reference number.
You are required to renew your registration every year. For more information on renewing your Social Work England registration contact us, or Social Work England directly.
Charles Hunter Associates is a specialist recruitment agency in the Social Work sector. You can check out more about us here.
