Social Care Wales Registration and CPD Requirements

Social Care Wales registers the Welsh social care workforce, and registration is a legal requirement rather than a professional courtesy. More than 66,000 people are on the register as of September 2026, the overwhelming majority of them care home and domiciliary care workers.

The requirement that causes the most confusion is continuing professional development, because what Social Care Wales currently publishes and what is widely quoted do not match. That is worth dealing with first.

The CPD hours question, answered honestly

Social Care Wales's current pages, updated in October 2026, say that everyone on the register must take part in training or learning as part of their CPD. They give no hours figure.

A figure of 90 hours for social workers and social care managers, and 45 hours for social care workers, each across a three-year registration period, does appear on a Social Care Wales renewal page — but that page was last updated in September 2024, and both the current web guidance from October 2026 and the renewal PDF from March 2025 omit the numbers entirely.

So the honest position is this: a numeric CPD requirement has existed and may still apply, but it is not on the current guidance, and we are not going to print it as though it were. If you are renewing, confirm your figure with Social Care Wales at registration@socialcare.wales. The Social Care Wales (Registration) Rules 2024 are the binding document and the place any hours requirement would properly live.

What is beyond doubt is that CPD is a renewal condition. The guidance states that renewal may be refused where CPD has not been completed, with an exceptional route of submitting a written statement to the Registrar.

Where Wales sits against the rest of the UK

This is the comparison nobody publishes, and it matters if you work across borders or manage services in more than one nation.

Only Northern Ireland publishes a hard number, and our guide to the NISCC 90-hour requirement sets it out. Scotland's position is closest to Wales's: the obligation exists, the hours do not get published, and the registrant self-declares. Our guide to SSSC and continuous professional learning covers that. England is the outlier, because care workers there are not individually registered at all.

Who must register, and when

Four groups, and the deadlines differ sharply between them.

Social care workers — adult care home workers, domiciliary care workers, residential child care workers, residential family centre workers, secure accommodation service workers and special school residential workers. You have six months to register from the date you start in the role.

Social care managers — including adult care home, domiciliary care, residential child care, residential family centre, secure accommodation, special school residential, adoption service, adult placement, advocacy and fostering service managers. You must be registered before your first day in a new job. There is no grace period at manager level, and that catches people moving up internally.

Social workers must be registered before starting work as a social worker in Wales. Social work students must register before their first practice placement.

The scale tells you where the workforce actually is: 27,577 adult care home workers and 24,117 domiciliary care workers, against 6,953 social workers. The small categories are very small indeed — six residential family centre managers, four special school residential managers, three advocacy managers.

Qualifications, and how long you get

You can register before you hold the qualification, which is the feature of the Welsh system most worth knowing.

Social care workers register with the City & Guilds Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core, then complete the Level 2 or Level 3 Health and Social Care: Practice qualification. You have six years to get it, though Social Care Wales says it expects most social care workers to do so within three. An employer-assessment route is also available, where you still need the qualification but can obtain it after registering.

Social care managers have three years to get the Level 5 qualification, and must hold it before renewing. Social workers who qualified after 1 April 2016 must complete the consolidation programme within their first three years. Social workers, nurses and occupational therapists registering as managers must complete a management qualification within three years, of at least 37 credits, workplace-assessed at level 3 or above.

If you are inducting new staff into any of this, the All Wales Induction Framework is the structure that sits underneath it.

The renewal mechanics

Registration lasts up to three years and renews every three years from the date you first registered. The renewal application opens 86 days before your renewal date, and you must submit at least 21 days before the end of your period. Registration lapses one day after your renewal date, so there is no quiet grace window.

Your CPD record should show the date, the name of the training or learning, how long it lasted, and a brief description of how it contributed to your professional development. Keep it and discuss it with your manager; you do not send it unless you are selected in a sample. SCWonline can hold the record for you.

Checks differ by registrant type. Social workers are sampled and have their CPD verified by a line manager, who prints their name, signs and dates it. Social care workers' CPD is verified through endorsement by someone in a more senior position. Self-employed registrants keep their own record and can submit a summary portfolio, which Social Care Wales notes it will not return.

Fees

What happens if it is not done

Renewal may be refused where the requirements of registration have not been met. Social Care Wales can also impose sanctions short of refusal, including restrictions on working, training requirements and work experience conditions. If you are removed, you cannot work in a role that needs registration, and returning means a fresh application — with CPD records and any outstanding fees.

Underpinning all of it is the Code of Professional Practice for Social Care. Registering means agreeing to work to it, and Social Care Wales is explicit that working to the Code includes taking responsibility for maintaining and developing your knowledge and skills. CPD is not a bolt-on to the Code; it is one of the ways you comply with it.