Temporary practice policy

Last updated: 29 July 2025

• Who is this policy for?
• What is the purpose of this policy?
• Protecting the public
• What do we mean by ‘temporary basis’?
• How we assess practice on a temporary basis
• Examples of temporary practice
• Advising people you work with
• Concerns raised whilst practising under this policy

Who is this policy for?

This policy is for people who are practising as social workers in England on a temporary basis, and who are registered with:

• Social Care Wales
• the Scottish Social Services Council
• the Northern Ireland Social Care Council

What is the purpose of this policy?

This policy defines what is meant by ‘temporary basis.’ It aims to provide:

• adequate protection for the public
• clarity for social workers on another UK social work register who wish to practise in England on a temporary basis (without registering with Social Work England)

Social workers who are registered with Social Care Wales, the Scottish Social Services Council or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council are able to practise in England on a temporary basis under Regulation 28(3) of the Social Workers Regulations 2018.

Anyone who wants to practise temporarily as a social worker in England, who is not registered with one of these regulators, must apply to register with us.

If you intend to practise beyond a temporary period, then you must apply to join the register.

Protecting the public

The ‘social worker’ title is protected in England. This means that anyone who wants to practise in England must be (either of the following):

• on our register
• registered with one of the other regulators and practising under this temporary policy

If an individual is not, we will investigate them for ‘misuse of title’, which is an offence in England. This is because as the regulator of social workers in England we have a duty to protect the public by ensuring social workers are practising legally and meeting certain standards.

If we receive a concern about a social worker who is registered elsewhere in the UK but not in England, we will consider whether their practice in England could be considered temporary under this policy. If it is temporary, it would not be classed as a misuse of title.

If we don’t consider the practice to be temporary, we will apply our prosecution policy to decide whether to take the case forward to prosecution. We will also notify the holder of the relevant register where the social worker is registered.

Misuse of title is set out in our regulations and explained in our misuse of title guidance.

What do we mean by ‘temporary basis’?

‘Temporary basis’ refers to “lasting or intended to last or be used only for a short time; not permanent”. Temporary practice would not include a permanent or fixed term contract or agreement to practise social work in England. When considering whether the practice was on a temporary basis, we would consider duration, frequency, regularity and continuity.

If you intend to continue to practise in England beyond what we consider to be a temporary basis, then you are required to inform us and apply to join the register.

How we assess practice on a temporary basis

We will always assess on a case by case basis. This section provides some examples of how we may determine that a person is practising on a temporary basis.

Duration

This is the expected duration of the social work practice. A total period of practice in England of less than 3 months in a year, when all roles are combined, would be likely to be considered temporary practice.

Frequency

This is the rate of occurrence, which may be the interval between visits. We are likely to consider that a social worker undertaking 3 periods of practice over the course of a year, lasting for around 3 days each time, was practising on a temporary basis. 

3 periods of 3 day’s practice across a year or less is a small proportion of available working time and would therefore be likely to be considered temporary practice.

Regularity

This is how regular the social work practice is and whether it is constant or at fixed intervals. Anything irregular with no discernible pattern is likely to be considered temporary and occasional for the purposes of regularity. 

Any occurrences of practice that follow an obvious pattern based on a specific day of the week, date, week of the month, or other period in the year, would indicate regularity and not be likely to be considered temporary.

Continuity

This is whether the practice is undertaken in a continuous period or sporadically, over a period of time. Continuous practice for more than 3 days in a row would indicate continuity, so would not be likely to be considered temporary practice. This refers to each role undertaken separately. 

Misuse of title

Further information regarding how we investigate misuse of title concerns is available on our website.

Examples of temporary practice

We may consider that a social worker registered in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland is practising on a temporary basis if they are (any of the following):

• supporting a family that moves across the border into England. The support should last for a short period of time, for example one piece of case work that lasts 2 hours but occurs frequently  with the same family over a short period of time such as a month
• supporting a family in a joint custody case, and the child lives in England for periods of the year
• working with families as part of an adoption or foster placement that takes place across the border. Their support should last for a short period of time, for example, supporting a family across the border with an adoption or foster placement for a finite length of time
• visiting a vulnerable adult who is in hospital a long way from their home
• being asked to undertake services for short periods across the border, in times of national emergency

Temporary practice is not:

• where a social worker is registered in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and then obtains a fixed term or permanent role in England and relies on this existing registration to practise whilst they apply for registration with Social Work England. We would investigated this as a misuse of title case.

Advising people you are working with

All social workers practising in England under this policy must be transparent with the person or families that they are working with. This means they must inform them that (both of the following):

• they are practising as a social worker in England under the terms of this policy
• they are registered as a social worker with the regulator in their country

Concerns raised whilst practising under this policy

We can only investigate concerns regarding a social worker’s conduct and/or competence (‘fitness to practise’) if they are registered with Social Work England.

In cases where a fitness to practise concern is received about a social worker who is practising in England under this temporary practice policy, we will   refer the concern to the relevant social work regulator.

Contact us

If you are unsure where this policy applies to you, please contact us for further information at enquiries@socialworkengland.org.uk.