General Social Care Council to be scrapped

Social workers will become the 16th profession to be regulated by the HPC, which is set to be renamed to take into account its new social care role.

The move is part of a major overhaul of the Department of Health’s (DoH) arm's length bodies, which is aimed at cutting costs.

In its Report of the Arm's Length Bodies Review, the DoH said there was "no compelling reason" for the GSCC to continue.

The review concludes that a review of social care regulation is needed due to the major differences in the functions of the GSCC and HPC.

For example, the GSCC registers students, which the HPC does not. Also, the HPC is solely responsible for setting standards in training, whereas the Secretary of State for Health is in control of the training required for social work. Legislation is also needed to scrap the GSCC.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "In order to secure every possible means to promote greater value for money and efficiency, we have acted decisively to ensure that our arm's length bodies sector remains fit for purpose and affordable."

Membership to the HPC costs £76 a year and the body already has more than 200,000 professionals, including chiropodists, hearing aid dispensers and occupational therapists, registered to it. The current annual fees charged by the GSCC are £30 for social workers and £10 for students.

In November last year the GSCC was criticised in a review into a backlog in handling misconduct cases. The review followed the discovery of 203 unallocated misconduct cases. Around one in 10 of these had public protection concerns.