Social Workers Registration Bill second reading
Mr Speaker, I move that the Social Workers Registration Bill be now read a second time.
Mr Speaker, this Bill provides a framework for the registration of social workers in New Zealand. It puts in place a
number of measures designed to protect the safety and well being of all New Zealanders who receive the services of
registered social workers.
The development of this legislation
The regulation of social workers has been the subject of debate over a number of years. There has been concern about the
lack of credibility of social work as a profession. There has also been a growing expectation from New Zealanders,
particularly those who use social services, that social workers should be more accountable and their work more
transparent.
In the 1999 Labour Party Manifesto, the Labour Party pledged to establish a system of professional registration for
social workers. The Social Workers Registration Bill delivers on that commitment.
The nature of social work requires social workers to assist individuals, families and communities who have to cope with
stressful life events and difficult circumstances. Because these circumstances often make people vulnerable New
Zealanders need to be sure that people are protected from poor social work practice and the harm it can inflict. The
proposed legislation addresses this need.
The aims of the legislation
The aim of the Social Workers Registration Bill is: to protect the public by providing mechanisms to ensure that social
workers are competent to practise and accountable for the way in which they practise; to create a framework for the
registration of social workers in New Zealand; to provide for a Board to promote the benefits of registration and
administer the registration system; and to enhance the professionalism of social workers.
The Bill stipulates that registration will be based on a person’s competence and fitness to practice social work. The
entry criteria for registration will require an educational qualification and practice experience, followed by an
assessment of competence. The person must also be judged competent to practice social work with Maori and different
ethnic and cultural groups in New Zealand.
The Bill proposes that only those people who have been through the competency process will have the right to use the
title ‘Registered Social Worker’. While other people will not be stopped from practising social work, uncertified
practitioners will not be able to call themselves a ‘Registered Social Worker’. The Bill also requires that registered
social workers renew their registration every five years, including undertaking a further assessment of their
competence.
Registered social workers will be made accountable for their practice through the establishment of a complaints and
disciplinary process.
Select committee consideration of the bill
Mr Speaker, the Social Services Select Committee received 37 submissions on the Bill. The majority of these submissions
(30 out of 37) supported the Bill. These submissions supported the intent of the Bill which is to provide public
protection, to improve the quality of social work services, to scrutinise the fitness and competence of social workers,
and to ensure they are accountable for their practise. They saw that the Bill will benefit the people who use social
work services.
A smaller number of submissions expressed reservations about the Bill. In particular, they questioned whether the Bill
would be able to achieve its purpose and offer enough protection to the public if registration is not mandatory.
Mr Speaker, I would now like to briefly address this issue of the voluntary nature of the registration framework that is
proposed in the Bill.
Mr Speaker, as the Select Committee quite rightly noted, it is not viable to introduce mandatory registration
immediately. Although the specific criteria for registration have yet to be defined (this will be a function of the
Social Workers Registration Board), it is likely that a significant proportion of social workers currently practising
would not immediately meet the criteria for registration. It would also be unrealistic to expect that employers and
individual social workers have the time and money to gain registration immediately.
Mandatory registration is not consistent with other forms of occupational regulation. Voluntary registration regimes are
the most common form of regulating professions. For example, they are used for accountants.
Mr Speaker, as a result of considering this issue, the Select Committee has recommended that as part of their regular
review of the Act, the Social Workers Registration Board should specifically consider the extent to which the system of
voluntary registration is achieving the purposes of the Act. I fully support this amendment to the Bill.
Mr Speaker, as a result of the submissions received and its own consideration, the Social Services Select Committee has
recommended a number of other changes to the Bill, all of which I support. These changes strengthen and clarify the
intent of the Bill. There are four changes that I’d particularly like to mention.
Members of the Committee were concerned to ensure that the registration framework was established as soon as possible
after the Bill has been passed. To assist this they have recommended that the commencement clause of the Bill be amended
to require that members of the Social Workers Registration Board must be appointed within 12 months of the Bill
receiving Royal assent, and that provisions relating to the establishment of the Board also come into force on
enactment. The remaining provisions in the Bill would come into effect by Order in Council and different dates may be
appointed for different provisions. These amendments enable the Social Workers Registration Board to be established as
soon as possible, but no later than 12 months after enactment. I support any change that will enable the Board to be
established and operational quickly, so that the first registrations can happen as soon as possible.
The Select Committee saw merit in one submission which suggested that if a similar complaint against a registered social
worker has previously been made and investigated, then that information should be taken into account before a Complaints
Assessment Committee makes its assessment of the complaint it has received. The Select Committee has recommended
amending the Bill to allow that when assessing a complaint about a registered social worker, a Complaints Assessment
Committee may have regard to any previous investigations or considerations and the consequences (if any) of those
investigations.
Another change that the Select Committee has recommended, which I fully support, relates to the complaints procedures
that are maintained by the employers of social workers. The Commissioner for Children suggested that the Social Workers
Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal should have a role in ensuring and promoting the establishment of complaints
mechanisms within agencies which employ social workers. Such mechanisms would assist the Tribunal to better manage the
complaints that are likely to be referred to it. The Committee agreed with that suggestion. The Bill has been amended to
include a new function for the Social Workers Registration Board, which is to promote the establishment of complaints
procedures amongst the employers of social workers. This amendment also addresses some of the issues raised by other
submissioners regarding the need for employers to take primary responsibility for investigating unprofessional
activities by social workers in their employment.
Finally, the Select Committee recommended that a new penalty be included in the Bill. The penalty would be against a
person who holds an employee or a professional associate out as a registered social worker knowing that the employee or
associate is not registered or that their registration has been suspended. Again, this amendment addresses submissions
that were concerned that the Bill could take responsibility away from the employers of social workers.
Mr Speaker, I would like to thank those organisations and members of the public who made submissions on the Bill. I
would particularly like to acknowledge the contribution that the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers has
made to this Bill and to the professionalisation of the social work occupation generally. I would also like to thank the
Select Committee for its work and the considered changes that they have suggested.
Mr Speaker, I have circulated Supplementary Order Paper number 73. The Supplementary Order Paper largely makes minor
technical improvements which give more clarity to the provisions within the Bill. The most significant amendment made in
the SOP is to extend the time limit for provisional registration from six to eight years. This will allow social
workers, who have been granted provisional registration within three months of the Bill being passed, more time to gain
the qualifications and practical experience that is required for registration. For example, it allows for those people
who need to study part-time. This change signals the Government’s keen interest in investing in the people who work in
this important occupation.
Conclusion
Mr Speaker, the measures in this Bill provide a process for the registration of all social workers in New Zealand. New
Zealanders are entitled to be assured that social workers are competent and practising safely, that people are protected
from poor social worker practice and that there is a high level of accountability in the social work profession.
Mr Speaker, I am confident that the provisions in this Bill will put in place a framework that will enhance the services
that are provided to some of the most vulnerable of all New Zealanders. I thank the social work profession for being so
willing to meet the challenges and opportunities that this Bill presents.
Mr Speaker, I commend this Bill to the House.