Social Care Wales registration: who must register, by when, and how to keep track

In Wales, care workers in care homes and domiciliary support services must be registered with Social Care Wales within six months of starting. Managers must be registered as social care managers before they manage. Nurses are excluded. Registration lasts up to three years and has an annual fee. The legal duty to make sure staff are registered sits with the service provider, so you need a dated record for every person and a way of spotting deadlines before they pass.

This guide covers who must register, the deadlines, qualifications, fees and renewal, and a simple tracker you can copy.

Who must register

The duty is in Regulation 35 of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017. It's law: a person isn't "fit" to work at the service unless they meet it.

Some important details:

• "Later date in exceptional circumstances": the six-month deadline can only be extended if Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) agrees. Don't assume an extension; ask, and keep the reply.
• Registration is personal, but the duty is yours. If someone passes six months unregistered, the provider is the one in breach.
• Agency staff: the statutory guidance says agency staff should be subject to the same checks as your own staff, with evidence. Ask the agency for confirmation of registration.
• Regulation 36(3) (law) says you must support staff to maintain their registration with the appropriate regulator.

You can check anyone's registration on the public Register on Social Care Wales's SCWonline site.

The six-month deadline in practice

Six months goes quickly when someone starts on part-time hours or bank shifts. Work back from it:

1. On day one, record the start date and the six-month date.
2. Within the first month, make sure the application has been started. Some applications need endorsing by the employer (and the employer assessment route needs your assessor), so build that into your induction.
3. At four months, chase anyone not yet registered.
4. At five months, decide: will they be registered in time? If not, and there are genuinely exceptional circumstances, contact CIW before the deadline.
5. Never roster someone past the six-month date without registration or a CIW-agreed extension.

Qualifications

Social Care Wales sets the qualifications through its qualification framework. As of October 2026:

Care workers

• You can register holding the Level 2 Health and Social Care: Core qualification, then complete the Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care: Practice qualification.
• Level 2 or 3 Health and Social Care diplomas, QCF or NVQs, or equivalents, are also accepted.
• Without a qualification, a worker employed by a regulated provider can register through the employer assessment route: an approved assessor at the employer confirms the worker understands the principles of social care in Wales. They then work towards the qualification.
• Social Care Wales expects most workers to get the qualification within three years and allows up to six.

Managers

• The usual route for an adult care home or domiciliary care manager is the Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care and the Level 5 Leadership and Management of Health and Social Care: Practice.
• You can register while enrolled, but must complete the qualification within the first three-year registration period.
• Social work, nursing or occupational therapy degrees, combined with a recognised management qualification, are another route.

The qualification framework has the full list by job role. Check it for anyone with older or out-of-country qualifications.

Induction

The All Wales Induction Framework for Health and Social Care sets out what workers new to their role should learn and show, with progress logs and workbooks. The Welsh Government's statutory guidance (under Regulation 36) says social care workers complete the induction programme Social Care Wales requires within the defined timescale, alongside your own service induction.

Fees and renewal

Fees (Social Care Wales fees page, updated October 2026):

Fees are due when someone applies and each year they stay on the Register. Social Care Wales tells registrants through their SCWonline account and by email when a payment is due.

Renewal:

• Registration lasts up to three years.
• Apply to renew at least 21 days before it ends, through SCWonline.
• Social care worker renewals need endorsing by the employer's signatory. Self-employed workers, or those employed by a family member, need two endorsements.
• If registration isn't renewed, it ends. The person is removed from the Register and can't work in a role that requires registration in Wales. Social Care Wales says it will tell them and their last known employer.

Continuing professional development: Social Care Wales doesn't set a fixed number of hours. Registrants keep a record of their learning, discuss it regularly with their manager, and may be asked for it as part of a sample check. Employers are expected to support CPD, including making time for supervision and appraisal.

The codes of practice

• The Code of Professional Practice for Social Care Workers sets the standards registered workers must meet. Social Care Wales's updated version applies from 1 July 2026 and replaces the 2018 code; the standards themselves haven't changed.
• The employers' code: Regulation 37 (law) says the provider must adhere to the code of practice for employers of social care workers published by Social Care Wales. Regulation 38 says staff must be made aware of the workers' code.

A breach of the workers' code can lead to a fitness to practise referral. The statutory guidance expects providers to refer to the relevant professional body where someone's fitness to practise is in question.

A tracker you can copy

Review it monthly, and every time someone starts. Keep a screenshot or certificate of each registration on the staff file.

Mistakes to avoid

• Counting six months from the first shift on the rota rather than the start of employment.
• Forgetting bank and contract staff.
• Losing track of renewals after the first three years.
• Assuming a manager who registered while enrolled has finished their Level 5.
• No record of a CIW-agreed extension.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete's staff compliance file holds DBS, right to work, visa and sponsorship dates, NMC PIN and revalidation, and references. It doesn't have Social Care Wales registration fields.

What works well instead is the training matrix. You could add "SCW registration" as a course with a three-year refresh period, record the date someone registered and attach a photo of their registration. The matrix turns amber when a renewal is due within 30 days and red when it has lapsed, and each staff member sees their own row. You can do the same for qualifications with a deadline. Everything is named and timestamped, and the matrix exports to CSV.

Rotas publish to every phone, with warnings if you put someone on whose DBS, right to work, visa or mandatory training has lapsed. Home care adds visit runs with estimated travel time between visits.

It costs £2.49 per active staff member per month, with no minimum or contract, and the first 60 days are free with no card needed. See how it works for home care or care homes.