SECTION 61 - USE OF TITLE "SOCIAL WORKER" ETC
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“Section 61 provides for protection of the title "social worker" by the creation of an offence, punishable by a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale* for a person who is not registered as a social worker to use that title or hold himself out as a registered social worker with an intention to deceive. An individual will not be guilty of an offence if they are registered with an equivalent regulatory body in another part of the UK. Registration as a social worker with the Council will give a stamp of approval to an individual as a professional and can give access to vulnerable people.”

Regulations made under this section
The Care Standards Act 2000 (Relevant Registers of Social Workers) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/491). These are available at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20050491.htm

SECTION 62 - CODES OF PRACTICE
Subsection (1) requires the Councils to prepare and publish two codes of practice:

(i) a code of practice laying down standards of conduct and practice expected of social care workers;

(ii) a code of practice laying down standards of conduct and practice for persons (e.g. local authorities) that employ social care workers. By virtue of an amendment made to this section by the Mental Health Act 2007, the code under (i) may include standards of conduct and practice expected of social care workers when acting as approved mental health professionals (what used to be called approved social workers) under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Codes are to be kept under review (subsection (2)). The Councils must also carry out consultation before issuing or varying a Code (subsection (3)). And the Councils must give a copy of a Code to any person who asks for one (subsection (6)).

The legal effect of the Codes
The Codes are not mere statements of aspiration. They must be taken into account when a Council makes a decision as to (for example) whether a social care worker’s registration should be cancelled (subsection (4)). They must also be taken into account by the relevant Tribunal on appeal.

The Secretary of State (as respects England) and the Welsh Ministers (as resepects Wales) also have the power to direct local authorities to take the Codes into account when making decisions about the conduct of social care workers employed by them.

Codes of Practice published under this section
General Social Care Council
The GSCC has issued a Code of Practice for Social Care Workers and a Code of Practice for Employers of Social Care Workers. They are available from www.gscc.org.uk/Good+practice+and+conduct/Get+copies+of+our+codes/ For further GSCC guidance about the role played by the Codes, see www.gscc.org.uk/Good+practice+and+conduct/

Care Council for Wales
The CCW has issued a Code of Practice for Social Care Workers and a Code of Practice for Employers of Social Care Workers. They are available from www.ccwales.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=429 That webpage also contains further CCW guidance about the role played by the Codes.

SECTION 63 - APPROVAL OF COURSES ETC
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“The Councils will take over the regulation of professional social work training and related post-qualifying training from the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW). Section 63 gives wide powers to the Council to make rules about the approval of courses with the intention of ensuring the consistency and quality of the education to be provided for social workers at pre- and post-qualifying levels.

It is essential that all social care training is appropriately regulated if standards in social care work are to be improved. This is part of the main intention behind the establishment of the Councils. CCETSW had the statutory duty to regulate professional social work training only. The new Councils have functions in respect of training for all social care work. When CCETSW, which is a UK body, ceases to exercise its functions in relation to England and Wales, the regulation of professional social work training in England will be transferred to the GSCC, and training in Wales will be transferred to the CCW as the most appropriate bodies. Scotland and Northern Ireland will legislate separately to create new arrangements for CCETSW's functions.

National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), the qualifications for the non-professional social care staff, are already regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. It would not be sensible to remove social care NVQs from these overall arrangements for NVQs for separate regulation. The Council's function in respect of this type of training will be to make completion of particular NVQ courses a requirement to registration.”

The Councils are required to publish lists of the courses approved by them under this section (subsection (7)).

Rules made under this section
The General Social Care Council Approval of Courses for the Social Work Degree Rules 2002 are available from www.gscc.org.uk/For+course+providers/Degree+resources/ That webpage also contains general information about the approval of social work degree courses.

The Approval and Visiting of Degree Courses in Social Work (Wales) Rules 2004 are available at www.ccwales.org.uk/DeskTopDefault.aspx?tabid=420

SECTION 64 - QUALIFICAITONS GAINED OUTSIDE A COUNCIL'S AREA
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“The Council will register professional social workers on the basis of their having successfully completed a period of approved training. The GSCC will approve training in England, and the CCW will approve training in Wales. Section 64(1) provides for the GSCC to recognise, for the purposes of registration, qualifications gained outside England as being the equivalent of those gained through GSCC approved training in this country. Section 64(2) makes an equivalent provision for the CCW. As each of the UK countries will have its own regulatory body for social care, this section applies to qualifications gained in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as those gained in other EEA States and in other parts of the world.”

Guidance
GSCC guidance on the registration of social workers with qualifications gained outside the UK is available at www.gscc.org.uk/The+Social+Care+Register/Apply+for+registration/Workers+from+abroad/

CCW guidance on these matters is available at '492">'www.ccwales.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=492

SECTION 65 - POST-REGISTRATION TRAINING
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“It is common in other professions for continued registration with a regulatory body to be linked to continuing professional education and development. Continuing education is no less needed in social care, where safe, legal practice depends on an individual's updated knowledge of research advances and developments in best practice. Section 65 therefore makes provision for the Council to be able to make rules requiring registered persons to undertake additional training. The Council will consult relevant persons before making or later varying these rules.”

Rules made under this section
Post-registration training rules are contained within the general registration rules: see the note to section 57 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

SECTION 66 -  VISITORS FOR CERTAIN SOCIAL WORK COURSES
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“As part of its powers to approve and monitor the effectiveness of individual training courses in social work, the Council will need to be able to visit and report on the places delivering this training. Section 66 gives the Council powers to be able to appoint and pay the visitors to undertake this work on its behalf and to visit the place offering the training. Provision is made in respect of visits to both higher education institutes, which deliver the academic element of the training, and social services agencies that provide the practice placements where students can develop their practical skills.”

Guidance
For details of the GSCC’s monitoring and visiting programme for training courses, see www.gscc.org.uk/For+course+providers/

SECTION 67 - FUNCTIONS OF APPROPRIATE MINISTER
This Part of the Care Standards Act 2000 uses the drafting device of the “Appropriate Minister”. This means the Secretary of State, in relation to England, and the Welsh Ministers, in relation to Wales.

This section confers a range of functions upon these central governmental bodies, which are described as follows by the Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000:

“Section 67 gives certain functions to the appropriate minister, who can delegate such functions to the relevant Council. In addition, the Secretary of State may authorise any person to exercise his functions, and will be able to choose an appropriate person to carry out the function efficiently and effectively. In Wales, the Welsh Ministers can similarly authorise any person to exercise its functions.

Subsection (1) gives the appropriate minister responsibility to ascertain the training needs of the social care workforce and the financial and other assistance required to promote such training. He is also given responsibility to encourage provision of assistance, and for the drawing up of occupational standards in social care…

Subsections (2) and (3) establish the promotion of social care training as a function of the appropriate minister, which he can devolve to the relevant Council…This section extends the function so that it encompasses the promotion of training for all social care not just for professional social workers. Promotion of training includes publicising training opportunities, attracting potential students to training and providing information for social care staff and recruits enquiring about training.

Subsection (4) of this section gives the appropriate minister the power to pay grants and allowances to students [e.g. social work bursaries] and grants to organisations involved in training. In England it is intended that the Secretary of State will devolve the power to pay these grants to the GSCC.”

Guidance and other relevant material
For details of the funding and bursaries provided by the GSCC under this section, see www.gscc.org.uk/For+course+providers/Funding+and+bursaries/

For the CCW’s guidance on the position for Wales, see www.ccwales.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=431

SECTION 67A - EXERCISE BY SPECIAL HEALTH AUTHORITY OF FUNCTIONS UNDER SECTION 67(4)(a)
This section was inserted by section 72 of the Health Act 2006 in order to permit certain NHS bodies to administer social care bursary schemes for England. The Explanatory Notes to the Health Act 2006 describe section 67A as follows:

“The purpose of Section 72 is to extend the powers of the Secretary of State to enable him to direct a Special Health Authority to carry out a function that relates to the training of social care workers.

Section 72 inserts a new section, 67A, after section 67 of the Care Standards Act 2000 to enable the Secretary of State to direct a Special Health Authority to administer such of his functions under section 67(4)(a) of the Care Standards Act 2000 in relation to the social care bursary scheme as he may specify. These functions relate to the payment of grants, and travelling and other allowances to persons training in the work of social care workers.

Subsection (2) in effect extends the Secretary of State's direction making power, under section 16D of the NHS Act 1977, to enable him to direct a Special Health Authority for this purpose. It provides that a direction under new section 67A has effect as if it had been made under section 16D.

Subsection (3) sets out that any directions made by the Secretary of State under section 67A are to be in writing and may be varied or revoked by further directions.”

SECTION 68 - APPEALS TO THE TRIBUNAL
This section gives social workers the right of appeal to an independent Tribunal. This used to be the Care Standards Tribunal but it is now the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First–tier Tribunal established under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

Individuals have rights of appeal against, for example, decisions by the Council, in respect of registration, for example, a decision not to register them or to remove them from the register.

Other relevant material

The rules which govern the making of appeals to the First-tier Tribunal are the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008 (S.I. 2008/2699), which are available at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20082699_en_1.

Guidance about the bringing of appeals against registration decisions of the Care Councils are available at the Tribunal Service’s website: www.tribunals.gov.uk/index.htm.

SECTION 69 - PUBLICATION ETC OF REGISTER
Subsection (1) requires both Councils to publish the register they maintain under this Part, i.e the register of social workers and other social care workers required to be kept under section 56. The manner and time of publication are left for the Councils to decide.

Subsection (2) requires each Council, on request, to provide any person with either a copy of the register maintained by it or an extract from that register.

The actual registers
The registers of both the GSCC and the CCW are searchable on-line: see www.gscc.org.uk (for the GSCC register) and www.ccwales.org.uk (for the CCW register).

SECTION 70 - ABOLOTION OF CENTRAL COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN SOCIAL WORK
The Explanatory Notes to the Care Standards Act 2000 describe this section as follows:

“Section 70 abolishes CCETSW in relation to England and Wales. It enables a scheme to be made under an Order in Council to make provision in consequence of CCETSW ceasing to exercise functions in relation to a part of the United Kingdom. The scheme may provide for the transfer of staff and for disposing of the assets and liabilities of CCETSW. Scotland and Northern Ireland will legislate separately to set up new arrangements for dealing with the functions of CCETSW in those countries.”

Orders made under this section
The Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (Transfer Scheme) Order 2001 (S.I. 2001/2561). This Order is available at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20012561.htm

The Abolition of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/797). This Order is available at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20020797.htm