Care Shield Compliance Press Desk

Welsh providers must publish annual returns on their site

Annual returns have had to sit on your own website since 1 April 2026, and CIW now has stronger investigative powers to check what you publish.

By the Care Shield Compliance Press Desk··3 min read·Wales
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If you are registered in Wales and your annual return is not published on your own website, you are already behind. The duty started on 1 April 2026. At the same time CIW gained enhanced investigative powers, so the gap between what you submit and what you publish is now something a regulator can pursue.

What commenced, and when

The Minister for Children and Social Care, Dawn Bowden MS, set out the commencement position in a Written Statement on 10 March 2026, available from the Welsh Government.

Two changes landed on 1 April 2026. Providers must publish their annual returns on their own websites, and CIW's investigative powers were strengthened. Publication is the part most providers underestimate. An annual return submitted to a regulator is a compliance document. An annual return sitting on your public website is a marketing document, a recruitment document and a document that commissioners, families and journalists will read alongside your inspection report.

The children's services timetable

Also from 1 April 2026, new for-profit providers of restricted children's services cannot register. This is the opening step of a phased programme running from 2026 to 2030. From April 2030 there is a bar on local authority placements in for-profit provision, except in exceptional circumstances.

That is a four-year runway to restructure, not a cliff edge, but it is a genuine change of business model rather than a change of paperwork. Free transition advice is available via Cwmpas for providers considering a move to a not-for-profit or social enterprise model.

Direct payments and continuing healthcare

The Act also enables direct payments for adults eligible for NHS continuing healthcare. For domiciliary providers in Wales this is a slow-burn commercial change: it opens a route by which individuals who would previously have received a commissioned package can purchase support directly. Watch how health boards implement it locally, because the operational detail will be set there.

What this means for you

  • Check your website today. If your annual return is not on it, publish it. If it is on it, check that the version published is the version submitted.
  • Decide where it lives and keep it there. A buried PDF that changes URL every year is worse than useless when someone is looking for last year's.
  • Read your own return as a member of the public would. Occupancy, staffing, complaints and quality narrative are now public-facing text.
  • If you run restricted children's services on a for-profit basis, put the 2030 placement bar into your business plan now and take up the free Cwmpas transition advice rather than waiting for 2029.
  • Review how you respond to CIW information requests. Enhanced investigative powers mean requests that were once negotiable are less so, and slow responses become part of the record.
  • Brief your board. Publication duties change your reputational exposure even when your compliance position is unchanged.

The honest summary is that Wales has moved a chunk of provider accountability from the regulator's desk to the open web. That rewards providers whose internal data is clean and punishes those whose annual return is assembled in a hurry each spring.

Where this came from

The Written Statement of 10 March 2026 on the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, published by the Welsh Government.

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Sources

  1. Written Statement: Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 coming into force — Welsh Government

Questions people ask about this

Where exactly do we have to publish the annual return?

On your own website. The duty commenced on 1 April 2026 under the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025. Submitting to CIW is no longer enough on its own. Put it somewhere findable, keep previous years available, and make sure the published version matches what you submitted.

Does the for-profit children's services change affect existing registrations?

The 1 April 2026 change stops new for-profit providers of restricted children's services registering. The programme is phased between 2026 and 2030, with a bar on local authority placements in for-profit provision from April 2030 except in exceptional circumstances. Free transition advice is available through Cwmpas.

What are CIW's enhanced investigative powers likely to mean in practice?

The Written Statement confirms the powers commenced on 1 April 2026 but the practical effect shows up in how information requests are made and enforced. Assume less room to negotiate timescales, and make sure someone named in your service is accountable for responding to CIW requests promptly and completely.

How this was written. Care Shield’s press desk drafts from primary sources — the statute book, regulator publications and government announcements — and publishes automatically once every factual claim traces to a named source. The sources are listed above so you can check them. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the regulation that applies to your service. If you find something wrong, tell us at hello@careshieldcompliance.co.uk and we will correct it in public, on this page.

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