Today’s announcement of registration for domiciliary care workers and residential care home workers across both adult and children’s services was welcomed as a significant milestone for the social care sector by the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

Liam Byrne MP, Minister for Care Services, announced registration of these groups as part of a package of activities designed to deliver the transformation in standards promised in the White Paper (Our health, our care, our say) last week. The announcement was made during the opening speech at the Skills for Care Annual Conference in Manchester earlier today.

Lynne Berry, Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council said:

“This announcement is excellent news for the social care sector and should make a real difference to those who use care services. Extending registration to those working in domiciliary and residential care will really increase public protection and help prevent abuse. Registration should also help raise the status of the important work these staff undertake by increasing public confidence in them.”

“We are delighted to be taking this work forward and will be working in close partnership with employers, key stakeholders and of course the social care workforce over the coming months. While we are not underestimating the size of the task ahead of us, we hope our experience of registering more than 75,000 social workers and social work students will stand us in good stead.”

“This extension of registration will help the GSCC protect and promote high standards of practice across the entire social care workforce.”

A major consultation which will help develop registration for these groups in collaboration with the sector is expected to be announced next week. This consultation will cover issues such as training requirements, how registration will be rolled out (including the fee and how registration will be enforced) and over what time frame registration will last before renewal is due.

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