Employers have a responsibility to confirm employees registration status and to support social workers by:
- Promoting the Social Care Council’s Standards of Conduct and Practice for Social Workers to social work registrants.
- Supporting newly qualified social workers to successfully complete their Assessed Year in Employment (AYE).
- Supporting social workers to engage in the Professional in Practice (PIP) Framework (including completing their Mandatory Two Requirements) and maintain their post registration training and learning or PRTL.
New guidance has been developed to support employers who are considering employing a social worker for the first time, alongside specific guidance for schools.
See associated resources for links to guidance documents to support employers.
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Standards of Conduct and Practice for Employers
The Standard of Conduct and Practice for Employers states that employers are responsible for:
- Informing registrants about the Social Care Council Standards of Conduct and Practice for Social Workers and their personal responsibility to meet those standards.
- Providing appropriate induction training and on-going learning and development opportunities to help registrants do their job effectively and prepare for any new and changing roles and responsibilities.
- Providing effective, regular supervision to registrants to enable them to develop and improve through reflective practice.
- Contributing to the provision of social work education and training, including effective workplace assessment and practice learning.
- Supporting registrants to meet the Social Care Councils eligibility criteria for registration and its requirements for post registration training and learning.
- Responding appropriately to registrants who seek assistance because they do not feel able or adequately prepared to carry out any aspect of their work.
- Supporting and enabling registrants to take responsibility for quality improvement and safety in line with their job role.
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Partnership Working
We work in partnership with social care and social work employers, subject matter experts, service users and carers, key stakeholders such as; DOH, RQIA and PHA but most importantly we work with the target user – social work and social care registrants including managers.
This supports us to develop meaningful learning resources that include authentic real-world scenarios and reflective learning activities based on practice issues that concern and impact on you as a registrant and manager.
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Learning Zone Digital Resources
To support employers, the Social Care Council has developed a wide range of digital learning resources and guides to support registrants – these are available from Learning Resources.
The Learning Zone resources do not replace the employer’s responsibility to ensure workers are provided with comprehensive training that enables them to deliver safe, effective care and support to meet the training requirements within their roles and settings.
NB: Employers are more than welcome to use and promote the Social Care Council’s resources and guides within the workplace to support a continuous learning and development culture which has standards and values at its core.
NB: Reflective learning questions are built into all of our learning resources and may be used to share and evidence learning including registrants Post Registration Training and Learning.
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More Information and Guidance
Click on the tiles below to access digital guides for more guidance on PRTL and Values Based Recruitment and Retention.
See Associated Resources for quick access to key guidance documents and forms.
Go to Career Guidance, Social Care Qualifications, and Registration for more information.