The Government have ruled out the statutory regulation of those in social care jobs in England.

According to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the compulsory registration of those who work in adult social care and home care workers "could not be justified" given the current economic climate.

As part of proposals under the Labour Government, England's 412,000 home care workers needed to be registered from the beginning of 2010. Labour said initially the registration would be on a voluntary basis. However, Lansley argued that there are already adequate systems in place for the regulation of social care, including the Care Quality Commission's registering of care providers and the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

"The government is not convinced that the case has been made for subjecting low paid workers in the adult social care sector to an additional tier of regulation by regulating individual workers," Lansley was cited as saying by Community Care.

As an alternative, the Department of Health is proposing to put in a place a "system of assured voluntary registration" for both healthcare and social care professionals that are not currently subjected to statutory registration.

Under the plans, those that register voluntarily would be accredited by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, which is soon to be renamed the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care. The voluntary register for social care worked could be established as soon as 2013.