The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2019

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations are made under section 186 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (“the Act”).

The Act introduces a new system of registration for care and support services in Wales, replacing that established by the Care Standards Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”).

Part 1 of the Act replaces the system of registration for providers of social care services set out in Parts 1 and 2 of the 2000 Act, which registers establishments and agencies. The 2000 Act requires a separate registration for each location at which a social care service is provided.

The Act takes a different approach which is service based. A provider must register with the Welsh Ministers in order to provide any care and support service which is a regulated service under the Act and that registration will contain the details of all the locations at which the provider provides a regulated service.

These Regulations make consequential amendments to primary legislation which refer for various purposes to one of the categories of establishment or agency which were regulated under the 2000 Act in order to replace such references with references to the appropriate “regulated service” under the Act.

Part 1 of the Act was commenced on 2 April 2018 in relation to the following regulated services—

(a) care home services;

(b) secure accommodation services;

(c) residential family centre services;

(d) domiciliary support services.

On 29 April 2019 Part 1 of the Act is commenced in relation to the remaining regulated services—

(a) adoption services;

(b) fostering services;

(c) adult placement services;

(d) advocacy services (advocacy services are not currently registered under the 2000 Act).

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.