THE TRADE union Impact has advised currently qualified social workers not to sign up to the new statutory social workers’ register on the basis that the proposed registration fee is too high.
The new register was opened yesterday by the Social Workers Registration Board. It said that for its initial start-up phase the registration fee had been set at €295 per annum, with a reduced fee of €100 per annum set for newly qualifying registrants – those applying for registration within two years of graduating from a qualifying course of study.
The board said the move represented the first step in the regulation of social workers as a profession. It said this would afford significant new protections to the public and members of the profession, including a statutory code of professional conduct and ethics, and a fitness to practise regime.
However Impact, which represents social workers, said the proposed €295 registration fee was out of line with those in place for teachers and nurses who paid €90 and €80 per year respectively. The union said it had received a letter from Minister for Health James Reilly in which he said he would examine alternatives, and that the Department of Health would engage with Impact on the issue.
The union said that currently qualified social workers should hold off registering in the meantime. Social workers currently employed will have up to two years to register.
Impact said it was a strong supporter of statutory registration. However, its deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said the fees should be borne by employers for the present, particularly as social workers had experienced large cuts in their incomes. “Despite our wish to see improvements in professional standards and the procedures designed to protect service users, Impact will not support fees at the exorbitant level announced today,” he said.
Coru, the umbrella body responsible for the statutory regulation of health and social care professionals, said it would determine the registration fee for future years, in consultation with the department.