Register to provide a service
To provide social care or childcare in Wales you may need to register with us.
Our role as an independent regulator means that we decide who can provide a care service. To provide a service in Wales you must apply and successfully complete our online registration process.
Who needs to register?
Anyone who wants to provide the following services in Wales must register with us. You can either register as an individual or as an organisation.
- Care homes - including those who provide care home services for children or adults
- Domiciliary support service - a service that can provide care in your own home as well as general support
- Secure accommodation service
- Adult placement service
- Independent fostering agency
- Voluntary adoption agencies
- Residential family centre services
- Adoption services
- Advocacy services
- Childminders
- Children’s day care
- Full day care
- Sessional day care
- Crèche
- Out of school care
- Open access play provision
We also inspect boarding schools, residential special schools and further education colleges which accommodate students under 18, but we do not register them.
How to register
If you are providing or planning to provide a Childminding service or a day care and play service please review the page listed below for further registration guidance:
If you are providing or planning to provide any of the following:
- Care home services
- Secure accommodation services
- Residential family centre services
- Domiciliary support services
- Adoption services
- Fostering services
- Adult placement services
- Advocacy services
You need to apply to register under the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 which came into force in April 2018. Please review the pages listed below for further registration guidance:
Before you apply
You must:
- Familiarise yourself with relevant legislation, guidance and National Minimum Standards
- Read our registration guidance
- Prepare your statement of purpose
- Ensure that you have relevant policies and procedures
- Ensure that you have relevant qualifications
Timescales for processing completed applications
- Initial applications – in general it can take up to 14 weeks (it can take longer if more information is required or additional information required is not returned on time)
- Responsible Individual or Registered Person application - 6 weeks
- Application to vary conditions of existing registration - 6 weeks
We will only grant applications when we are satisfied that all matters within the application meet the relevant parts of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, or Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 and any associated secondary legislation.
Applicants must not start to provide a service before registration is granted by CIW issuing them with a Notice of Decision.
If you have a complaint
If you feel that there has been unreasonable delay in processing your application or that we have not followed our registration process you can raise this with us through our complaints process.