Today we (Social Work England) have published the outcome of our
consultation on proposed amendments to our registration rules.
The consultation, which ran for 10 weeks earlier this year,
sought views on 2 specific changes that we proposed would take
effect from 1 September 2025.
After analysing all of the responses and based on the feedback
received, we will proceed with the proposed changes to rule 16
and rule 22 as set out in the consultation.
-
Rule 16: proposal to reduce International
English Language Testing System (IELTS) certificate validity
from 5 years to 2 years
-
Rule 22: proposal to remove gender
identity from our mandatory data collection in line with Public
Sector Equality Duty (PSED) guidance
In addition to the changes related to rule 22, we will also make
changes to the voluntary questions we ask as part of our equality
and diversity data collection process. We have considered the
recently published independent review of
data, statistics and research on sex and gender, led by
Professor Alice Sullivan, and used the recommended wording in the
changes outlined below.
Our new voluntary equality and diversity questions about sex and
gender reassignment relate directly to protected characteristics
under the Equality Act 2010 and will enable us to continue
observing trends across the social work sector.
We will publish updated rules and implement the related changes
to our processes from the start of the next registration renewal
period on 1 September 2025.
For full details of the feedback we received during the
consultation, how we used this to make our decisions, and the
changes we will make please read our full
consultation response.
