Social workers want to either scrap or reduce the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements for renewing registration in England, according to a recent poll.
This follows Social Work England's announcement it will be reviewing its approach to registration renewal to ensure “the right balance between public protection, public confidence in the profession, and efficiency”.
As part of that, it will be reviewing relevance and feasibility of its current requirement for social workers to submit two pieces of CPD, one of which must have been reflected upon with a peer, to renew their registration each year.
Scaling down or scrapping CPD requirements
The biggest group (45%) suggested making CPD a two- or three-year requirement, with 37% calling for it to be scrapped altogether and 10% backing reducing the number of annual submissions to one (10%).
Only 7% supported the status quo, with just 1% calling for an increase in the number of required submissions.
‘One CPD is enough’
Some social workers commenting on the related article also argued against the two pieces of CPD requirement.“I don’t understand why social workers are required to complete two pieces of written documentation,” said Golam.
“It’s time-consuming. It proves we can write a mini essay. Medical professionals ask colleagues to answer questions about their performance. Isn’t that a more accurate gauge of whether we are competent and uphold standards?”
Golam was echoed by another practitioner, who said the requirement didn’t account for how busy social workers were.
“NHS staff do CPD once in three years,” they added.
Mark advocated for the submission form to include a text option with prompts, calling the current format, “with all the boxes”, demotivating.
Have your say
To inform its review, Social Work England has launched a short survey for social workers and individuals interested in the profession.Part of the questionnaire asks respondents how far they see CPD as vital to maintaining professional standards in social work.
How would you improve the CPD process for renewing registration?
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