Fees

If you’ve previously been registered with the Health and Care Professions Council or Social Work England but have since left the register, you can make an application to restore your registration.

You’ll need to pay a non-refundable restoration fee when you submit your application.

The fee for restoring your registration between 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026 is £180.  This will then increase each year after this incrementally. Table 2 below outlines how much the restoration fee is each year.

This fee is due to the additional time and resources it takes to assess this type of application and we cannot process your application without this payment. Please note that this fee does not mean that you are guaranteed to be accepted onto the register.

If you do not pay your fee within 10 working days, we’ll close your application.

See ‘How to pay’ for details of payment methods.

If your application is successful, you’ll also need to pay a registration fee.

More information about registration fees can be found above.

Table 2: Restoration fees

For more information about restoration fees see:

• The Children and Social Work Act 2017 reg 8(3)(a)
• The Social Workers Regulations 2018 reg 15 and reg 17(1)(d)
• The Social Work England (Fees) Rules 2019 rule 6(1), rule 8(1), rule 9(3) and Schedule 1(3)

Fees are usually non-refundable. There may be exceptional circumstances where you can request for a fee to be reduced, waivered or refunded/refunded in part at the discretion of Social Work England’s head of registration.

Request criteria: You may receive a reduction, waiver or refund to a fee, if it meets the criteria for one of the following scenarios.

When we are notified that a registered social worker has died

Once we are notified that a social worker has passed away, the head of registration will review when the social workers registration fee was last paid when deciding if a refund is due.

The person notifying us of their death or next of kin will receive an update from a member of the registration management team by email ([email protected]).

If a refund is approved

If the registration fee payment was made by card, the payment will go to the card the payment was originally paid to.

If the registration fee payment was made by Direct Debit, we will require the following information:

• Bank details of where the refund should be made (name on the account, account number and sort code).
• Copy of the death certificate.
• An email from you explaining why the request of the payment should be made to you.
• A copy of a letter from a solicitor stating you are the executor of the estate. 

When a registered social worker has been suspended from the register

You must engage with us early to provide evidence that payment of the fees will cause significant financial hardship.

To submit a request for a fee reduction, waiver or refund to be considered you should write a letter to the head of registration and send this to [email protected].

In your letter, please include the following information:

• your social work registration number
• the email address linked to your online account
• your date of birth
• your home address, including postcode
• the reason for your request including evidence that this will cause you significant financial hardship

The head of registration will then consider your request, and you will receive an update from a member of the registration management team by email ([email protected]).

When we consider it to be fair and reasonable, having regard to an applicant’s particular circumstances

We have listed below some of the most common refund/waiver requests we receive and have included information on which circumstances would or wouldn’t be accepted.

An IT issue with our systems may have caused the applicant to incur a fee they should not have paid.

Scenarios where a fee refund would be accepted include:

• An IT error occurred on the 30 November, which has been confirmed as an error with the Social Work England website. As a result, the restoration process was required as they failed to renew their registration, but the restoration fee would be waived.
• An IT error occurred where an application was accepted and the registration fee requested was duplicated resulting in the fee being paid twice.  

An applicant’s health or personal circumstances exceptionally prevented them from interacting with their registration responsibilities (for example, being in hospital and not having access to provide key documentation).

Evidence to support these requests must be provided in all cases for a refund to be considered.

Scenarios where a fee refund would be accepted include:

• An applicant has applied to restore their registration after being removed from the register due to failing to renew. They have provided medical evidence that shows they were hospitalised and unable to complete the renewal requirements for the last 6 months, which included the 3-month renewal window. 

Scenarios where a fee refund would not be accepted:

• An applicant has applied to restore their registration after being removed from the register due to failing to renew. They were unwell for the last week of the renewal period and advise they were too unwell to complete the renewal requirements.  As the renewal period runs from 1 September to 30 November annually, their refund request would not be approved.

If you believe you meet the criteria for a refund, please follow these steps:

• write a letter to the head of registration and send this to [email protected]   
• in your letter, please include the following information:
  • your social work registration number
  • the email address linked to your online account
  • your date of birth
  • your home address, including postcode
  • the reason for your request including evidence to support your request

The head of registration will then consider your request and you will receive an update from a member of the registration management team by email ([email protected]).

Fee waiver of overseas scrutiny fees for subsequent applications (as outlined in the above section)

For a fee waiver to be granted, it must meet the following criteria:

• Your request must be in writing and submitted with your subsequent application. This will need to include why information was not provided in your initial application or by the 28 calendar day deadline.
• Your subsequent application should include all required documents as per the overseas guidance together with documents requested in your closure letter.
• You are resubmitting an application within 12 months of the closure of your first application.

If the subsequent application does not include all of the information required to support your application, or it is submitted more than 12 months after your previous application was closed, the waiver request will be declined.

Restoration applicants

Restoration applicants may request a refund of restoration fees where multiple applications (and therefore multiple fees) have been paid in quick succession (maximum 12 months). All requests must be made in writing and will be considered by the head of registration and advice.

Scenarios where a fee refund would be accepted include:

• An applicant has submitted 2 restoration applications within the last 6 months. Their first application was closed as they were unable to meet the updating skills and knowledge requirements.. Their second application was accepted.
• An applicant made payment of the restoration fee but did not submit the restoration application. When they came to re-apply a month later, they were required to pay the restoration fee again, and their application was submitted. The first payment was refunded as no application was received to make an assessment.
• An applicant requests for their restoration application to be closed prior to an assessment being undertaken.

Scenarios where a fee refund would not be accepted include:

• An applicant has submitted one restoration application and does not believe they should have paid both the restoration fee and the registration fee and has requested for the restoration fee to be refunded.
• An applicant requests a refund of the restoration fee once their application has been initially assessed and further information has been requested from them.

If you believe you meet the criteria for a refund, please follow these steps:

• write a letter to the head of registration and send this to [email protected]  
• in your letter, please include the following information:
  • your restoration application number
  • the email address linked to your online account
  • your date of birth
  • your home address, including postcode
    

The head of registration will then consider your request, and you will receive an update from a member of the registration management team by email ([email protected]).

For more information about refunds see:

• The Social Work England (Fees) Rules 2019 rule 7(1), (2) and (3)

Last update: 9 June 2026

• Clarified information around refunds

19 February 2026

• Clarified information around scrutiny fee

1 December 2025

• Updated to reference to our fees

23 July 2025

• Updated to reference changes to our rules

5 March 2025

• Clarified information around scrutiny fee

6 January 2025

• Updated our contact details

15 March 2024

• Added extra clarification around refunds

29 July 2022

• Updated to reference changes to our rules

First published: 1 December 2019