Annual renewals show number of social workers registered in England remains stable

Social Work England has announced its annual registration renewal figures with 96,886 people having completed their application to continue to practise as a social worker in England. The social work register in England constantly changes, with people leaving the profession for a variety of reasons, such as for other roles or retirement. However, the end of the annual renewals period provides a snapshot of this vital profession at one particular moment in time.

As the regulator, Social Work England is responsible for making sure the public register of social workers is accurate and up to date. It would like to thank everyone who completed the mandatory renewals process on time this year, ensuring that they can continue to safely and effectively practise in their roles and support the millions of people who need their support. The number of people who did not complete all 3 steps to renew and were removed from the register (3,740) is consistent with previous years. In the past year, 4688 social workers have joined the register.

Social workers in England are regulated in a similar way to professionals like doctors, nurses and midwives. This is in recognition of the level of risk and importance of the work they do to support children, families and adults. Through regulation, those who have a social worker in their life can be reassured that they meet professional standards, keep their skills up to date and are competent to practise. Regulation therefore plays a crucial role in protecting some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Social workers are responsible for renewing their registration annually by completing a 3 step online process, including a renewal application form, submitting continuing professional development (CPD) and paying a registration fee of £90. Every year, there are a number of people who wish to leave the register voluntarily. There are also some people who do not meet the deadline, or who fail to complete all 3 steps. Some of these subsequently decide to apply to restore their registration.

Renewal figures as at 7 December 2022

Please note these figures will differ slightly from initial figures published on 1 December, as the applications for renewal and restoration are assessed.

• There were 100,626 people on the register who were eligible to renew their registration.
• 96,886 (96.3%) renewed their registration to remain on the register.
• Of these 35% worked in adult’s services and 58% in children’s services, with the remainder in other areas of social work practice or unrecorded.
• 3,740 people were removed from the register following the end of the renewal period. Of these:
  • 24% worked in adult’s services and 43% in children’s services.
  • 428 were removed from the register due to not complying with the CPD requirements, which had changed from 1 to 2 pieces this year, 1 with a peer reflection.
  • 741 started the renewal application form, but did not complete and submit this in full, on time. 276 did not start the renewal application form. This total of 1017 people had completed their CPD and payment but not the application form.  
  • 842 have since asked for their registration to be restored (to date).

As part of the renewals process we asked social workers to voluntarily share their equality, diversity and inclusion data with us. 96.5% of social workers on our register have now shared this data with us. This picture of the workforce will enable us to analyse, understand and, if necessary, revise our rules, systems, policies and processes to ensure they are fair.

We will be sharing more detail about the make-up of the register in our third Social Work in England report to be published in the Spring.

Philip Hallam, executive director of regulation said:

“The renewals process ran smoothly this year. There were no issues with the renewal system over the renewal period, including on the last day, that would have prevented social workers from completing their application by the deadline. The 3 month renewal window is designed to give people ample time to complete the process and contact us with any questions well before the deadline.

Our online system meets digital standards. We provided social workers with extensive information on how to complete the 3 step process (as set out in our legislation), which was the same as the previous 2 years. Our website includes a detailed, step by step guide to the renewal form, along with a video walkthrough.

We sent social workers several emails and a letter to remind them to apply, including targeted emails at various times to social workers who had failed to complete all steps of the process. This was supported by an extensive comms campaign, including proactive contact with employers and supportive sessions with our regional engagement leads. On the final day of the renewal period we sent a further email to anyone who had not completed all 3 steps.

We can see that a small group of people unintentionally failed to renew and the majority of these were people completing their application on the last day, which may have led to them not completing all of the steps properly. We appreciate that this is a stressful situation for those who wish to continue to practise and are assessing applications for restoration as quickly as possible.

We advise people who unintentionally failed to renew to notify their employer and ensure that they do not practise as a social worker if they do not hold registration. Further information about the process for restoring to the register is available in our registration section.

Regional figures

This table shows the total number of social workers in each region who had not renewed their registration by 11.59pm on 30 November 2022 and were removed from the register. The total number removed was 3740. The percentage shown in the table is the percentage of those 3740 removed in each region, not of the full register. Some of these may have since restored their registration. The areas are based on where they have told us they are currently employed. Those classed as ‘unknown ’ have not completed the information or may not be currently employed.