Social workers have been in the spotlight in recent times, particularly in the aftermath of the Baby P scandal. This summer we expect to see the implementation of the Government's plans to close the General Social Care Council (GSCC) and transfer the regulation of social workers to the Health Professions Council (HPC). This followed concerns raised by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence in its 2009 report regarding the effectiveness of the GSCC's case management system and its ability to deal with complaints in a timely manner. BDB has been advising the HPC to assist the smooth transition from the GSCC to the HPC, and in this article Lynsey McIntyre sets out some of the background.

The Health and Social Care Act, which received Royal Assent on 27 March 2012, formally abolishes the GSCC and facilitates the transfer of functions to the HPC. The transfer, which is expected to take effect on 31 July 2012, will only affect the 86,000 social workers currently registered with the GSCC in England; social workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to be regulated by their respective national bodies. After the transfer date, all social workers in England must register with the HPC in order to practice as a social worker.

The HPC currently regulates 15 health, care and therapy professions, such as physiotherapists, psychologists and arts/music therapists. Once the transfer of regulatory functions to the HPC is complete, it is envisaged that the HPC will change its name to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

A significant change for social workers is that the GSCC currently investigates concerns about registrants based on allegations of misconduct, whereas the HPC model of regulation is based on fitness to practise, covering complaints of misconduct and also concerns about competence and health issues. The HPC has consulted with the profession to produce specific standards of proficiency, which will reflect to some degree the existing GSCC codes of conduct. All HPC registrants are subject to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics as part of their registration, a copy of which can be found on the HPC website: http://www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/standards/standardsofconductperformanceandethics/ .

Existing investigations will transfer to the HPC on the transfer date to be disposed of in a 'just' manner and registrants will be contacted about existing cases in due course.

Given that GSCC's current definition of misconduct is widely formulated so as to touch on issues of competence, e.g. the social worker has failed to protect the rights of users or protect them from harm, it remains to be seen whether the fitness to practise model used by the HPC will in fact result in an increase in the number of complaints received and pursued.

The transfer of regulation of this profession arises amidst interesting times ahead for health and social care regulators, as the coalition government moves away from mandatory statutory regulation towards the set up of voluntary registers for currently unregulated professions, seeking a balance between the cost of regulation and the protection of the public. The HPC and other regulators are already looking ahead to consider whether and how to implement voluntary registers for aspirant groups.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.