Plans to change how people with social care jobs are regulated must take into account the needs of the people they help.

That's according to Melanie Henwood, an independent social care consultant. Writing for The Guardian, Ms Henwood argues that a professional model is unlikely to be appropriate for a workforce that isn't professionalised and often transient.

She claims asking people to subscribe to a regulation scheme wouldn't be successful. Ms Henwood said: "It is also generally low paid and the idea of paying a significant registration fee will be hard to sell either to the workforce or their employers."

Ms Henwood believes that any new model of regulation "needs to be fit for purpose not only for the current workforce, but also for the emerging one". This means that the model should be appropriate and "compatible with principles of choice".

Ms Henwood added that control of this requires a flexible model "and one that is based on a clear understanding of the needs of people who use social care services, as well as those who work in social care.''

Currently the Health Professions Council currently regulates 15 health professions, with over 20,000 registrants. If they were tasked with the registration of social workers, this would add a further 100,000 people. If the wider social care industry comes into regulation, the number could soar to over 1.5 million.

The regulation of social care is under governmental review at the moment, as part of the health and social care bill.