England has no register of care workers or statutory workforce body

Scotland (SSSC) and Wales (Social Care Wales; mandatory registration from 30 September 2026) register care workers by statute; England registers only social workers (Social Work England). Skills for Care, a charity with no statutory remit, holds the workforce dataset and led the 2024 Workforce Strategy; the DHSC Care Workforce Pathway remains voluntary. Nothing gives England's ~1.6 million care workers portable credentials, enforceable standards or a recognised career ladder.

The first Fair Pay Agreement (from 2028) will set pay and conditions for a workforce England cannot individually identify or credential. Registration underpins FPA enforcement, safeguarding, delegated healthcare tasks and the case for training investment. Persistent high vacancies make the absence more costly each year.

A statutory registration scheme for adult social care workers in England (by extending Social Work England's remit or creating a new registrar), legislated alongside the FPA secondary legislation, plus statutory footing and funding for the Care Workforce Pathway and a national training entitlement. Casey phase 1 is the natural vehicle to recommend it; DHSC would legislate.

// State-led: Instrument: statutory registration scheme legislated alongside FPA secondary legislation, extending Social Work England or creating a new registrar.

England's 1.6 million care workers stay unidentified as Fair Pay Agreement machinery advances; only a charity holds the data and fixing it needs primary legislation, not a switch.