Social Work England registration: how CC Inform’s CPD log can help you

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Social Work England’s CPD requirements

Social Work England took over regulation of social workers in England from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) on 2 December 2019. Social Work England require annual registration renewal (rather than the HCPC’s two-year cycle).

This year, social workers need to renew their registration between 1 September and 30 November 2021.

At the end of the renewal period, Social Work England will check whether all social workers have recorded evidence of CPD that meets its CPD standards during the previous year. Every social worker needs to record at least one piece of CPD in their online Social Work England account. The regulator provides two options – a ‘structured’ or an ‘unstructured’ form. The structured version includes more questions to organise your record around how the CPD relates to the different parts of the CPD standard. The unstructured form has fewer set questions, allowing individuals to record in the way they think best for each piece of CPD. You can upload supporting documents to the unstructured form – for example, if you have recorded CPD on CC Inform or elsewhere.

This year, the mandatory requirement is to record at least one piece of CPD. (Note, for the next registration year, social workers will need to submit a minimum of two pieces.) The regulator says many social workers already record more than the minimum requirement and “as good practice” they encourage social workers to record CPD once a quarter.

Further guidance from Social Work England on the CPD standards and how to record is available here. This includes examples of CPD submitted by social workers.

In addition to ensuring that everyone has recorded some CPD, Social Work England will also conduct a review (previously referred to as ‘validation’). In January 2022, the regulator will examine the CPD submitted by 2.5% of registrants, to ensure their CPD is relevant to social work practice and demonstrates the impact their learning has had on practice. Social Work England will let you know if you’re selected, but you will not need to provide any additional CPD information. Read more about the review process, what is meant by “relevant” and “impact on practice” and what happens if there are concerns about the CPD reviewed here.

How can CC Inform’s CPD log help?

If you prefer to watch rather than read, this five minute video explains how to log CPD via CC Inform, export and upload it to your online Social Work England account (click the icon of four arrows in between the settings wheel and ‘vimeo’ in the bottom right section of the video for a full-screen view):

So that you can quickly and easily record and add learning you gain from Community Care Inform articles and activities over the course of the year as well as during the re-registration window, our CPD log matches Social Work England’s requirements and the unstructured form, enabling you to provide information to the regulator on what you did, reflect on how it has impacted on your practice and say which of the CPD standards (see box below) you feel that the learning has met.

Use the ‘Add to my CPD log’ button in the ‘Manage article’ box on any article to add it to your personal log and follow the prompts to record your learning.

If you’re using the site on your mobile, the ‘Manage article’ box will be at the bottom of the page.

Clicking the “Add to my CPD log” button will bring up a form to complete, with the title and date you accessed the article. The questions on the form replicate Social Work England’s requirements.

screenshot of the form that appears when clicking 'Add to my CPD log' The first part of the form is shown above. Further questions prompt you to add critical reflection on the impact of the CPD on your practice and identify which of the CPD standards your learning demonstrates.

Complete the form to record how you believe the article or learning tool – such as a podcast, video or group activity – contributed to your CPD.

Accessing your CPD log, adding other items and exporting your record to use in your Social Work England account

Click ‘My CPD’ which appears under your name wherever you are on the site to access the log of all CPD you have recorded.

You can edit entries in your log and add any learning from other sources (for example, reading from other websites or journals, training courses, service user feedback or reflecting on things that went wrong) at any time. You can print your evidence and export it as a Word document that is ready to upload as a supporting document to the unstructured form when recording CPD in your Social Work England online account. You will just need to add the date and title when you did the CPD, and add a note for the regulator to refer to your attached document. If preferred, you can copy and paste from your exported log to the form – Social Work England’s CPD guidance recommends copying and pasting from a Word document into the online form as its system will log you out after 60 minutes for security reasons, so your exported Word document may be useful for this purpose.

screenshot of export/print functions on My CPD log, and adding external items

The CPD log lists all the items you’ve added (two are shown in the example above but there is no limit on the number you can add) and provides quick links to export or print your record, and add learning gained outside CC Inform.

If you’ve already been using your CPD log, everything you have recorded previously will still be there.

Social Work England’s professional standard 4 sets out its expectations for what social workers need to do in relation to CPD to maintain registration

As a social worker, I will:

  1. Incorporate feedback from a range of sources, including from people with lived experience of my social work practice.
  2. Use supervision and feedback to critically reflect on, and identify my learning needs, including how I use research and evidence to inform my practice.
  3. Keep my practice up-to-date and record how I use research, theories and frameworks to inform my practice and my professional judgment.
  4. Demonstrate good subject knowledge on key aspects of social work practice and develop knowledge of current issues in society and social policies impacting on social work.
  5. Contribute to an open and creative learning culture in the workplace to discuss, reflect on and share best practice.
  6. Reflect on my learning activities and evidence what impact continuing professional development has on the quality of my practice.
  7. Record my learning and reflection on a regular basis and in accordance with Social Work England’s guidance on continuing professional development.
  8. Reflect on my own values and challenge the impact they have on my practice.

How are CPD requirements changing next year?

From next year, social workers will need to submit two pieces of CPD to renew their registration. There will also be a requirement to reflect on one piece of CPD with a peer and there will just be one form, rather than the the current option to choose between a “structured” or “unstructured” form. You can read more about the changes coming in for the registration year that starts 1 December 2021 in this Community Care article.

– Go to your CPD log
– Read Social Work England’s CPD guidance