The purpose of this report is to advise [the Minister] of work the SWRB has been doing to better
understand social worker-like roles, with a focus on public safety considerations. The report
highlights that:
• Many workers in social worker-like roles are doing the same work as registered social
workers but without the same regulatory oversight.
• Existing legislative mechanisms in the SWRA 2003 would allow regulation of these workers
via registration.
• There is a strong preliminary case, based on enhancing the safety of the public and
broadening pathways into social work, for registering this class of workers as social workers
under different scopes of practice. More work is needed to refine the public safety
considerations and better understand the full implications of taking this course of action.
• Additional policy work to further assess the risk to public safety and weigh up the costs and
benefits of further intervention is required.

The approaches discussed in this report may go some way towards increasing professionalism in
the wider social worker sector and addressing ongoing public safety concerns. (From the Executive summary).

See also the Appendix and related report prepared by Martinjenkins, available on the website.

Record #8773