There are lots of different ways the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (the Social Care Council) support you as a member of the social care and social work workforce.
‘Skills for Care and Development’ (SfCD) UK Alliance
The Social Care Council is a partner in the ‘Skills for Care and Development’ (SfCD) UK Alliance – this is an Alliance of key organisations from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, with varied roles across social care, social work and early years and with remits across workforce development and regulation. With our partners, we regularly review and improve qualifications and occupational standards for the social work, social care, early years, children and young people’s workforce.
Our role in regulation and Governance
We are the regulatory body for the social work and social care workforces in Northern Ireland, as set out in the Health and Personal Social Services Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 (the Act). The Act sets out our responsibility to:
- Maintain a register of social workers and social care workers in Northern Ireland.
- Set standards for social workers and social care workers for their conduct, training and practice.
- Approve and regulate standards for social work training at degree level and in the Professional in Practice (PiP) Framework.
This has allowed us to develop a model of regulation that is dynamic and relational, with a focus on protecting the public through development of safe and competent social workers and social care practitioners.
Support you meet the Standards of Conduct and Practice
Our model of regulation enables registrants to meet standards by also supporting their continuous professional learning and development.
We require social workers and social care practitioners to undertake continuous professional learning and development throughout your career to evidence you are meeting the Standards of Conduct and Practice.
All social care managers, social workers and social care practitioners are required to complete a minimum of 90 hours of learning and development within their registration period. This is called Post Registration Training and Learning. A registration period is:
- Three-years for social workers and social care managers, and
- Five years for social care practitioners.
PRTL is the continuous learning and development you carry out to build your confidence and professional practice as a social worker or social care practitioner. This can include any continuous learning and development, continuous professional development (CPD), induction, in-house training including refresher training and development and other specific training and workshops, online and/or digital learning or qualifications you need to complete in your workplace or as part of self-directed learning and development.
Click here to learn more about PRTL.
Learning Zone – Supporting your continuous professional learning and development journey
The Learning Zone has been developed to support social work and social care registrant’ continuous learning and development journeys and career pathways.
You will find two sections – social care and social work providing you with access to relevant information and guidance to support you from when you enter the sector and move into more enhanced, specialised or leadership roles to develop your knowledge, skills, competence and capabilities and become self-regulated learners.
You will find information and guidance on the learning zone as follows:
Social Care:
- New to social care (including the Induction Programme and Standards).
- Social care practitioner.
- Social care manager.
- Social Care Qualifications including (The Care in Practice (CiP) Framework, The NI Apprenticeship Framework and National Occupational Standards (NOS) and NOS Review).
- Post Registration, Learning and Development (including renewal of registration and PRTL audit).
- Social care employer responsibilities/guidance.
See Social Care Workforce Reform for information about CiP Framework, Social Care Workforce Strategy, Level 2 Certificate in Safe and Effective Practice, Certificate Impact report and Guidance and Review of Qualifications.
Social Work:
- Social work student – Degree in Social Work (including practice learning and standards, quality assurance for the Degree in Social Work and the Review of the Degree report).
- Newly qualified social worker – AYE (including AYE audit).
- Professional in Practice (PiP) Framework (including how to enrol and get started, mandatory two requirements, PiP routes to achievement and PiP awards).
- PiP Representatives and Assessors (including roles and responsibilities and assessment process for Individual Assessment Route (IAR)).
- Post Registration, Learning and Development (including Renewal of Registration and PRTL Audit).
- Social work employer responsibilities/guidance (including Guidance on employing a social worker).
See: Interested in becoming a social care practitioner and Interested in becoming a social worker for career guidance and information.
Learning Zone – Learning resource library
As well as the above information and guidance, the Learning Zone provides free access to the Learning Resource Library. This is a library of accessible free digital learning resources developed by subject matter experts covering a wide range of relevant topics and consistent messaging on standards, values and best practice. These resources have been designed in partnership with the sector and key stakeholders to supplement and complement the training provided by employers to:
- support you to better retain key knowledge and skills.
- learn at a time and pace that suits you best.
- support you to develop your knowledge and skills and take responsibility for your learning and development, and/or
- help you reflect on your learning and provide evidence of your learning by completing reflective learning questions that are built into to the digital resources which can be used to evidence your PRTL 90 hours and/or PiP submissions.
“All Learning Zone resources are completely free and accessible anywhere, any time, on any device.”
Lunchtime seminars and events
The Social Care Council regularly presents events and lunchtime seminars hosted by industry and sector experts to help you develop your continuous professional learning on a range of practice topics.
Click here to access lunchtime seminar resources.
Click here to check out dates and details coming for our lunchtime seminars.
Collaborative partnership and engagement with the sector
We work in partnership with social care and social work employers, service users and carers, key stakeholders such as: Department of Health (DoH), Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority) (RQIA), the Public Health Agency (PHA), and most importantly we work with you – social care and social work registrants to ensure that our information, guidance, learning resources, lunchtime seminars and webinars are relevant and useful to support your continuous learning journeys and career pathways.